Speech of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek on the Occasion of Commemoration of Milada Horáková on 26th June 2008
When we say Milada Horáková, the first word that crosses our minds is the word "victim". Tomorrow, when it will be the anniversary of her execution, we will commemorate also all the victims of the totalitarian regime. Yes, Milada Horáková symbolizes political prisoners of the communist era. As the only one woman who was executed by communists, she stands out of the others. She is visible; you cannot fail to see her, her name knows everybody, unlike 234 other victims of judicial murders.
But Milada Horáková is not an exceptional woman just because she was born as a woman; and that she was not weak woman at all. The word "victim" does not characterize her well, in fact. Before the execution she said "I lost this fight", but it was not true. She defeated the communist regime. She never surrendered, she succumbed to the pressure, torment and she left with raised head.
Milada Horáková was a very strong woman. She was not afraid of fighting against the Nazism and she was condemned to death. The sentence was then changed to life sentence and thus the American army could set her free. Milada Horáková did not give up her fight under the communist regime either. She was much stronger than others. She was stronger than majority of men. She proved it after February 1948 when she refused to work for the so called National Socialist Party. She resigned from her position of a member of the Parliament, she forewent political carrier and she effaced herself. That consistency became fateful for her. However, Milada Horáková was not broken even after her arrest. She refused to testify in compliance with recommendation of communists as it was common in such show trials. She refused to play the game, which even high officials of the all-powerful party who were judged by their own compatriots, accepted with hanging heads.
Milada Horáková did not lose her moral sinew even at the time of execution. "I am leaving without hatred" was her last words. For us it is even nowadays hardly possible to see the communist regime without hatred. Is it possible to cease to hate executioners, at all? How to achieve the national reconciliation after forty years of persecution and murders? How to cope with that horrendous past? Milada Horáková was very strong. She was so strong that she managed to cope with the communist regime in the time of its greatest power and brutality. We should emulate her, at least nowadays, in incomparably better conditions. Our slogan should not be "hatred" but "consistency".
We must consistently insist on reconciliation with the past. We must rehabilitate all those who were fighting against communism. We must consistently protect our freedom. Milada Horáková had been faithful to freedom until the last moment. She remained free even at the moment when they were putting a noose on her neck. She was strong because she was free, because she believed that freedom could not be stolen by anybody. Let us try to be like her.
