Milena Jesenská – Praha-Vinohrady
Fact of the Czech figure „Women education in Czechia”
Part of the „The emancipation of women” topic
A park in Prague, situated near the last address where she lived before being arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Ravensbrück, was recently named after the prominent Minerva alumna, Milena Jesenská. Jesenská was a model of an emancipated woman who regarded women’s rights as an integral part of the struggle for justice and human rights. She wrote about the obstacles women faced in achieving higher education, for she believed education was the key step of equality. She criticized societal norms that restricted women and emphasised the significance of education for both personal and societal progress.
Before Second World War, Jesenská edited Peroutka’s Přítomnost review and contributed to various newspapers, including a column titled Women’s Watch, where she offered practical advice to women. She also focused on social and political issues. In the interwar period, when few journalists wrote about the Czechoslovak frontier, Jesenská ventured into the tumultuous Sudetenland, where she analysed the conflicts between Czech Germans. Her brilliant journalism provided apt observations regarding the events unfolding in interwar Central Europe. Although history often reduces Milena Jesenská to the role of Franz Kafka’s lover, she was an exceptional observer and writer who combined literary talent with humanism, fighting for diverse ideals.
