I have to broadcast that and stand up for those people
Stáhnout obrázek
Otta Bednářová was born on June 18, 1927 in Prague. After graduating from high school, she became a member of the Communist Party and found a job at CKD. In 1950 she started working for the Czechoslovak Radio. Since 1963, she has worked at Czechoslovak Television, where she became a co-author of the program Curious Camera. In a report, Testimony for Warning, she revealed behind the scenes of the fabricated process of the 1950s. She also documented other topics that were sensitive at the time. Already during the 1950s, she reconsidered her view of communist ideology. After 1968, she was forced to leave Czechoslovak television and was expelled from the Communist Party. Since 1974, Otto has been involved in the reproduction and dissemination of samizdat literature, putting herself in the monitoring of the State Security (StB). At the end of 1976, she was one of the first signatories of Charter 77, and the document was signed by both her sons. A year later, she established the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS) with a group of Charter 77 signatories. A year later, she was arrested and sentenced to a three-year unconditional sentence with the entire group. She spent sixteen months in prison. After her release, she became involved in dissent again. She participated in the dissemination of samizdat literature and other texts. After the Velvet Revolution, she worked in Olga Havel‘s Committee of Good Will.
