František Zahrádka

František Zahrádka (30 October 1930 – 15 December 2017) was a Czech resistance fighter. He was an active member of the Resistance against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

Biography

Early life František Zahrádka was born on 30 October 1930 in Děčín, Czechoslovakia to an assistant worker, his mother Kristýna, and an Army veteran, his father František. He attended grammar school in Meziměstí with his brother, Luděk. In 1938, his family was driven out of their home by Germans.

Many tragedies befell his family and him before World War II. His father's job transferred him to the Svitavy region. He assisted in helping eleven people leave Czechoslovakia illegally. He also helped produce the illegal Za Pravdu magazine. He established contacts with the American Intelligence Service and helped them connect to the resistance network in Czechoslovakia. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison and required to pay a fine. He served part of his time in the uranium mines in Jáchymov and other areas. He eventually went through eleven prisons and camps until his release in 1962.

Zahrádka died on 15 December 2017.

Legacy Zahrádka helped build the Museum of the Third Resistance in Příbram and a memorial to the Victims of Communism in Vojna. He received the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk for Lifetime Merit in 2007 by Václav Klaus. He also was awarded the Prize of the Nation. In the early 2000s, he was interviewed by the nonprofit Post Bellum as part of their Iron Curtain Stories Project.