Klára Červenková

Klára Červenková (11 August 1873 – 12 May 1945) was a Czech geographer, anthropologist, academic, suffragist and pacifist. She was one of the first women to graduate from the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University and one of the first Czech women to obtain a university degree. Because of her anti-fascist stance, she was arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp for women in Ravensbrück, Germany, at the end of World War II.

Life and work Klára Červenková was born on 11 August 1873 to the family of the tailor Josef Červenka, originally from Sedlčany, and his wife Marie Červinková, from Městek Králové. Klára had a twin sister, Maria. After graduating from school, she began studying in Prague at the age of 19 at the newly opened (in 1890) first private girls' high school in Central Europe called Minerva, where she was taught by, among others, Albína Honzáková and Marie Baborová.

Pedagogical activity After graduating from that school in 1898, she began attending lectures at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University. Until 1900, girls were only allowed to attend lectures for "residential studies" (without the status of regular students), but in 1900, a new law enabled girls to take exams for the entire period of their studies. Červenková was not accepted as a student until 1906. In the meantime, she started teaching Czech language and geography at the girls' and women's school of the Czech Women's Production Association. At that time, the teaching profession required women to promise celibacy so Červenková remained unmarried throughout her life.

Honors Her name is listed on the commemorative plaque of the members of the physical education unit of the Czech Social Democracy who died in World War II. It's located on Strahovská Street in Prague.