Dana Němcová, a dissident and one of the first signatories of Charter 77, took over the honorary citizenship of the capital today. The highest personal award given by the capital Němcová in the Brožík Hall of the Old Town Hall was handed over by the Deputy Mayor of Prague Petr Hlubuček (STAN).

Němcová was awarded for extraordinary deeds associated with personal heroism in the anti-communist resistance.

In her speech of thanks, the new honorary citizen of Prague recalled the heroism of other people who took part in the anti-communist resistance, supported people with a desire for young people and young people to try, among other things, to make Prague friendly.

Němcová is one of the leading Czech Catholic intellectuals. Together with her husband Jiří Němec, they were one of the initiators of Charter 77. Due to dissident activities, Němcová was monitored and interrogated by the State Security. In 1979, she spent half a year in custody and was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence of five years. She was also in prison in 1989, when she acted as a spokesperson for Charter 77. In 1978, Němcová co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS), an organization that helped victims of communist injustice. After 1989, Němcová briefly met politics and became a member of the Federal Assembly. After the death of the wife of the first post-November president, Václav Havel Olga, Němcová took over the leadership of the Committee of Good Will. She was also involved in helping refugees from the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Němcová has already won many other important awards. She holds, for example, the Medal of Merit of the 1st degree from President Havel, the Nation’s Memory Award and the Arnošt Lustig Award. In 2010, she already granted honorary citizenship of the Prague 2 district. In 2013, she received a certificate of participation in the Third Resistance.

Architect Martin Rajniš took over the silver medal of the capital. The city management awarded him the award for an important lifelong work in the field of architecture connected with Prague. Rajniš is the author of a number of Czech wooden lookout towers, including Doubravka in Černý Most, and he usually works on the design and construction of the Máj department store on Národní třída. The bronze medal was awarded by the representatives of the metropolis for an important lifelong work in the field of music by choirmasters Vladislav and Zdena Součková, the main career is, among other things, connected with the children’s choir Radost.

Prague values ​​its important inhabitants in several ways. The highest personal award given to the capital is honorary citizenship. Since 1990, the metropolis has awarded it to Jaroslav Foglar, Zdeněk Svěrák, Jiří Bělohlávek, Jiří Suchý, Dana Zátopková and Miloš Forman, among others. (CTK)