Heda Čechová

Heda Čechová (17 July 1928 – 23 April 2020) was a Czech television anchorwoman, radio presenter, and politician. She later served as a member of the Czech National Council for the Civic Forum from 1990 until 1992 following the Velvet Revolution and Czechoslovakia's transition to democracy.^[1]

Biography

Čechová was born Heda Šimandlová in

Her television career ended in 1968 with the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed the Prague Spring.^[1] Čechová and her colleagues were forbidden from reporting on the ongoing invasion.^[1] In response, Heda Čechová wore a black dress during her television show to protest both the invasion and its censorship by state-owned television.^[1] Čechová was dismissed from her on-air television anchor position and demoted to a job as a records keeper in the station archives.^[1] In 1977, she retired from the television station with a disability pension due to a cancer diagnosis.^[1] She was given just three months to live at the time of her diagnosis.^[2] However, she underwent surgery and six weeks of radiation, which successfully cured the cancer.^[2]

She considered emigrating, but remained in the country due to her son.^[2]

Čechová briefly entered politics following the

Heda Čechová died on 23 April 2020, at the age of 91.[1]^[2]

References