Prague Mayor Zdeněk Zuska: He died on the D1 highway 40 years ago
Standardization brought to the head of the capital in 1970 Zdenek Zuska. A native of Ukrainian Uzhhorod, where he was born on April 27, 1931, he replaced Ludvík Černý (†83) as the head of Prague at the time, who supported the Prague Spring and the more liberal policies of Alexander Dubček (†70). Zuska represented the ideal in this case the case of a loyal communist politicianbefore which, given his “young” 39 years, loomed large promising career.
Alexander Dubček: celebrated and condemned symbol of the Prague Spring Videohub
Lawyer and prosecutor
Zuska “graduated from the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague and received a doctorate,” writes historian Táňa Jelínková in the Prague Historical Collection No. 26. department of the CSM Central Committee.”
Although he made a living as a prosecutor in Ostrava for several years, he saw his place in politics. “Already in 1947 he joined the Communist Party” writes Václav Ledvinka, former longtime director of the Archive of the m of Prague. In the party, he was able to impress not only with his managerial skills, but also with his “passion” for the communist cause, which, in addition to his law doctorate, is evidenced by degree of Doctor of Socio-Political Sciences (RSDr.), which was awarded only at the College of Political Affairs of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic in the well-known “Vokovická Sorbonne”.
From Moravia to Prague
The first political steps were taken by Zuska in Moravia. They brought him to Prague normalization efforts after 1968. “He was called at the beginning of 1969 as a personnel reinforcement of the so-called bureau for the management of party work in the Czech lands led by Lubomír Štrougal (98),” mentions Ledvinka of the long-time Czechoslovak prime minister. Prague, which up to that time was experiencing an unprecedented promising boom – the subway, new housing estates, etc. were being built, was waiting red twilight periodwhich was, to a certain extent, “bought out” by a number of other similar projects, from which we still benefit today.
New course
In order for this to happen, it was necessary to make personnel changes in the management of Prague City Hall. Favorite mayor At his own request, Ludvík Černý resigned from the post of mayor in 1970. “The party’s task of enforcing the so-called consolidation and normalization political course at the town hall and in the city, established by Husák’s leadership of the Communist Party, rested on the shoulders of the new mayor Zdenek Zuska,” writes Ledvinka. At the same time, Zuska became a member of the Federal Assembly and, in addition, received a seat in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, i.e. the highest body of the party. He remained at the head of Prague until 1981.
![](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/prazsky-primator-praha-zdenek-zuska-normalizace/Zml0LWluLzk3OHg5OTk5L2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSk6bm9fdXBzY2FsZSgpL2ltZw/8089617.jpg?v=0&st=HRDq-jvWrNdu8sm9cGUeP3AyMzz1KiCT8Miv__48tsA&ts=1600812000&e=0)
Zdeněk Zuska was the mayor of Prague from 1970 to 1981. He died in a tragic car accident on the D1 highway.
Author: Wikimedia.commons
“In the mayor’s office, Zdeněk Zuska used his experience from working in political apparatuses. However, he also demonstrated indisputable organizational skills, energy and consistency in promoting the party’s and his own goals,” writes Ledvinka, who highlights Zuska’s personal authority above all. At the same time, a certain “omnipotence“, when “non-negotiable uapplied the “political line and leading role” of the Communist Partythe elimination of so-called revisionist and anti-socialist views and their bearers.” In other words – whoever does not go with the KSČ, goes against it, and will be dealt with accordingly.
For example, when a number of disgruntled and “uncomfortable” artists, intellectuals, but also ordinary citizens signed Charter 77, which criticized the Communist Party for not respecting human and civil rights, they were not only arrested, but also persecuted in various ways by banning their activities or losing their jobs.
The Communists had their own reaction to Charter 77 Anticharta, among whose signatories, of course Zusk’s signature was also missing, although in his case it was a mandatory bribe to the regime. “All MPs and employees of the National Committee m of Prague, for example, in January 1977 they obligingly signed a document condemning Charter 77, without being given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the content of this famous manifesto,” writes Ledvinka.
Zuska was famous for his communist enthusiasm – that’s why he had a “high party functionary the entire collection of orders, medals and awards,Jelínková points out to the mayor, who, like many papalists of the time, he lived in a villa in the lucrative Hanspaulka residential area.
![](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/snih-praha-2021-unor-hanspaulka-zima/Zml0LWluLzk3OHg5OTk5L2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSk6bm9fdXBzY2FsZSgpL2ltZw/6823142.jpg?v=0&st=RjolBdsSnOyOF__CqJn-KpIh7nGi5NEAaHyRoLgNVhg&ts=1600812000&e=0)
Villa district Hanspaulka – former mayor of Prague Zdeněk Zuska lived here. (illustrative photo)
Author: David Zima
The last expansion of Prague
If we leave aside the political events that took place behind the curtain made of the red flag, we cannot fail to mention the developments that took place in Prague during the years 1970 to 1981, i.e. the years when Zuska was mayor. At that time, Prague was the so-called a socialist metropolis. “At the census on November 1, 1980, Prague had 1,182,862 inhabitants,” writes historian Josef Janáček in the book Little History of Prague.
Population growth was helped not only migration of residents from the countryside to the newly built panel housing estates, as they were supposed to be Červený Vrch, Letňany, Spořilov, Vlasta, Prosek or South City. “Mayor Zuska was able to maintain the high dynamics of capital construction, which was promoted by his predecessor Černý, until the end of the seventies,” Ledvinka mentions the construction of not only apartments, but also health and social facilities, not talking about schools. Under Zusky, for example, IKEM or the Podolsk Institute for Mother and Child Care was established in Prague-Krč.
![](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/praha-ikem-transplantace-jatra-institut-klinicke-a-experimentalni-mediciny/Zml0LWluLzk3OHg5OTk5L2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSk6bm9fdXBzY2FsZSgpL2ltZw/7520875.jpg?v=0&st=9oLfJDQHj_mKpXlcTnLcqtvDNyVKGlhOmDg6lL9e8S0&ts=1600812000&e=0)
IKEM
Author: Lightning: Jan Vilímek
Moreover, in 1974, Prague expanded for the last time by surrounding villages and municipalities. From July 1 of that year, 35 newly annexed municipalities began to belong to Prague. We would find K among themlánovice, Horní and Dolní Počernice, Dubeč, Uhříněvesbut Šeberov, Újezd u Průhonice, Řeporyje, Běchovice, Zbraslav, Slivenec whose Makeup artist. Prague then grew to its current 495 square kilometers. And together with the newly “acquired” kilometers, the inhabitants who lived in the given municipalities were also added to it.
Socialist big city
He also followed up on Černý Zusko by completing the buildings that were started in the 1960s, and which pushed Prague closer to today’s big city. For example, we are talking about Nusel bridgewhich was opened in 1973. It was built in parallel with it the first route of the Prague metro – line C, whose first section between Florence and Kačerov was opened a year later. Three years before the end of Zusk’s tenure at the municipality, she was between stations Dejvická and Náměstí Míru routes were put into operation in 1978 as well as the route of line Awhereas route B has been under construction since 1979.
![](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/doprava-kolona-auta-auto-nuselak-nuselsky-most-magistrala/MHgwL3NtYXJ0L3RoYg/1-full-3783544.jpg?v=1&st=fYAt6UTThK6kAG5iDDdwrCTijwy55tcmQqrHgmE5aaE&ts=1600812000&e=0)
Nusel bridge.
Author: Daniel Vitous
At that time, Prague public transport was generally experiencing development. For example Za Zusky the first tram sets traveled from Holešovice to Kobylis, the tram line from Hloubětín to Lehovec was also extended. They were also established new bus lines. On the other hand, with the expansion of the subway and buses, the number of tram tracks in the center decreased and the trolleybuses disappeared for good from Prague. “In 1972 they were trolleybuses unfortunately canceled in Prague“, states Jelínková. “In the 1980 project the last tram across Wenceslas Square.” However, according to current plans, she should return to him after more than 40 years.
People who remember the 1970s will certainly remember several buildings that were created at that time. For example, the “meat processing plant in Písnice (today’s Sapa market – note Red.), department stores Kotva and Májbakeries in Michli, the reconstruction of the Main Railway Station, the Praha-střed railway bridge, the large pharmacy in Kyjy, the monstrous Palace of Culture,” lists Táňa Jelínková. In 1972 he was Želivka tunnel put into operation, which supplies half of Prague with drinking water. Also, “the ill-fated north-south highway, encircling the National Museum, was completed.”
More haste less speed?
The capital is imaginary one of the busiest roads in the country crosses the road, on the other hand, still enables fast car transport around Prague from north to south. However, we can find more similar “contradictory” decisions from the time of Prague planning. And it wasn’t always just about the practical side of things.
“The dark side of this investment boom was unilateral prioritization of the quantity of new construction over its architectural, aesthetic and utility value and little regard for its urban and ecological correlations,” says Ledvinka. Housing estates were built without added value, mainly to be large and quickly built. The level of preferred architectural designs of the time was also not universal – being an exception, of course.
It was created during Zusk’s tenure as the head of the city monumental hotel Prague on Hanspaulkawith his style he walked stoutly against the established “austere” architectural style of the time. Palace of Culture – today’s Congress Center in Vyšehrad may not impress anyone with its ornate architecture from a distance, but to this day it is one of the largest multifunctional congress centers in Central Europe. Not to be missed when driving along Evropska street is the bthe widow of the former Koospol in Vokovice, which was established in 1977.
Turistic destination
At the same time, it was under Mayor Zuska that Prague became the tourist-friendly destination we know it as today. Not that tourists from abroad did not visit here in the 19th century or during the First Republic, but only since the 1960s has more attention been paid to the maintenance of monuments, which were tempting to visit. “In the mid-seventies, he visited Prague annually on average one million foreign tourists,” writes Janáček. For the record – in 2019, before covid broke out, over 8 million tourists visited Prague.
Today, Prague is ready for such an onslaught, but, but in the 1970s, “accommodation facilities and hotels did not meet the demand,” states Janáček. In addition to the mentioned Prague hotel, for example, Hotel Olympik in Karlín – unfortunately famous for the tragic fire in 1985, and it was also in Strížkov, for example DUO hotelwhich ranks among the largest in the countryand which in the 1970s and 1980s served more as an apartment building for workers and foreign students, or one of the best hotels in Prague – InterContinental in the Old Town. “Regarding tourism, the network of restaurants and shops has also been improved to a great extent.”
![](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/teplicka-strizkov-sidliste-strom-hrdina-roku-javor-hotel-duo/Zml0LWluLzk3OHg5OTk5L2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSk6bm9fdXBzY2FsZSgpL2ltZw/7696800.jpg?v=0&st=Nk69oH0jzhWteFZq_QIXagx4sZSOzIoLGq9cEztZVfk&ts=1600812000&e=0)
Hotel Duo in Prague’s Střížkov.
Author: David Zima
A fateful journey
Ambitious Zuska, holder of the Order of Labor and the Order of Victorious February, he had big plans. During his era, Prague kept pace with other big cities of the socialist bloc – in a way, it even outpaced them in many ways. The Communist Party was aware of this. Therefore, when another election was held in 1981, in which the KSČ had a “prepaid” winning seat, Zuska as mayor on June 22, 1981 he quit so he could promote.
From the municipality on Mariánské náměstí, which then bore the name náměstí Mayor Dr. V. Vacka after the first communist mayor, they moved to office of the Czech governmentwhere he worked as vice president in the government Josef Korčák (KSČ, †81). He lasted a year and a half in it. Not because there are other, bigger challenges waiting for him. Not even because he might not succeed in the position.
Shortly before Christmas 1982, when he was on his way home to Hanspaulka, where he lived with his family in one of the villas there, he never arrived home. “He perished tragic during a car accident December 17, 1982 at the age of fifty one,” notes Jelínková. The accident occurred on the D1 highway near the location of Devět křížů – between Lesní Hluboka and Přibyslavicá. Less than 10 years later, the car of the main representative of the Prague Spring, Alexander Dubček, also crashed on the highway.
![On May 25, 1995, one of the most tragic fires in the modern history of Prague occurred in the Olympik Hotel. On May 25, 1995, one of the most tragic fires in the modern history of Prague occurred in the Olympik Hotel.](https://1884403144.rsc.cdn77.org/foto/hotel-olympik-karlin-invalidovna-pozar-vyroci-velitel-zasahu-hasici-vaclav-kratochvil/NjIweDMyOC9jZW50ZXIvdG9wL3NtYXJ0L2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSkvaW1n/6353453.jpg?v=0&st=-hJ-3XTrzImdGri0zLTskUQ2NaJptYb2rEgKzDCyZoM&ts=1600812000&e=0)
On May 25, 1995, one of the most tragic fires in the modern history of Prague occurred in the Olympik Hotel.
Author: Jiří Rubeš