Irena Bernášková
| Irena Bernášková | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Irena Preissigová 7 February 1904 Prague Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 26 August 1942 (aged 38) Berlin Nazi Germany |
| Nationality | Czechoslovak |
| Known for | resistance activities |
Irena "Inka" Bernášková (7 February 1904 – 26 August 1942) was a Czechoslovak journalist and resistance member who was active in the fight against the German occupation during World War II. She was the first Czech woman sentenced to death and executed by Nazis.
Bernášková was born in Prague as the second of three daughters of painter Vojtěch Preissig. During World War I, the family resided in Boston, United States. Their villa in Boston became an important center of meetings of politicians and statesmen fighting for Czechoslovak independence. Personalities such as Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik visited their house. Irena returned to Czechoslovakia along with her sisters in 1921. In 1925, in Prague, she married her cousin, František Bernášek. Her parents did not approve of the marriage and her father even cut off all contact with her for four years. The couple settled in a villa in the Spořilov area of Prague. During the Munich crisis mobilization, Bernášková volunteered as a Red Cross nurse and helped refugees from the occupied Czechoslovak border area.
During the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops she started to distribute leaflets and began collaborating with her father on publishing the illegal magazine V boj ("Into Combat") in 1939. She also helped to organize illegal transfers across the border with Slovakia. Although the Gestapo searched for her, she managed to avoid arrest and continued to publish the magazine.
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