Olga Gepnarova ( Czech. Olga Hepnarová ; June 30, 1951 , Prague - March 12, 1975 , ibid.) Is a Czechoslovak criminal who killed 8 people on July 10, 1973 and became the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia.
Olga Gepnarova | |
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Olga Hepnarová | |
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Date of Birth | June 30, 1951 |
Place of Birth | Prague |
Citizenship | ![]() |
Date of death | March 12, 1975 (23 years old) |
Place of death | Prague |
Cause of death | Hanging |
The killings | |
Number of victims | eight |
Number of survivors | 12 |
Kill period | July 10, 1973 |
The main region of the killings | Prague , st. Defenders of the World |
Way to kill | Pedestrian Impact |
Weapon | Truck |
Motive | Hatred of society |
Date of arrest | July 10, 1973 |
Punishment | The death penalty |
Biography
Olga Gepnarova was born in Prague in 1951, her father Antonin was a bank clerk, and her mother Anna was a dentist . Olga was the second child in the family, sister Eva was born in 1949. Already at a fairly early age, Gepnarova had mental problems. According to her, at school she was the object of constant ridicule and bullying. She escaped from home. In 1964, she tried to commit suicide by poisoning with pills, and was placed in a children's psychiatric hospital in Oparzhani , where she spent about a year.
At school I studied mainly for the marks “Satisfactory” and “Good”. But, despite her academic performance, Olga Gepnarova did not receive a certificate of maturity for her personal qualities. After high school, she worked as a truck driver.
Arson attempt at home
On the night of August 6-7, 1970, Gepnarova went to the village of Zabrodi , located 6 km from Nakhod , where with the help of gasoline and old newspapers she tried to set fire to a house owned by her father. However, the couple living in the house woke up and managed to put out the fire. The sister of Olga, who was also in the house (which Olga did not know about), then her father, was suspected of committing a crime, then her case was closed. Olga herself reported him during a psychiatric examination in November 1973. She cited constant conflicts in her family over this house as a motive for arson: her mother believed that her father was investing too much in his restructuring and insisted on selling it; Olga thus sought revenge on her father [1] .
Murder
On July 10, 1973, Olga Gepnarova sent a truck to a group of about 25 people who were waiting for a tram on Milada Gorakova Street in Prague (then it was called "Peace Defenders Street"). Three people died on the spot, three died on the same day, one woman died after 2 days, and another - after more than 3 months. 12 people were injured. The murder was committed in cold blood. When Olga arrived at the bus stop, she saw that there were quite a few people - the tram had recently departed. So she drove away and returned when the number of people increased.
Victims
List of deaths with birth dates [2] :
- Vincenz S., 04/15/1907 (66 years old)
- Frantishka G., 09.16.1894 (78 years old)
- Frantisek J., 07/01/1902 (71 years old)
- Eduard D., 05/12/1913 (60 years old)
- Bozena Ch., 05.14.1894 (79 years old)
- Emilia Sh., March 11, 1906 (67 years old)
- Blessed V., 04/12/1908 (65 years old, died 07/12/1973)
- Maria P., 04/07/1902 (71 years old, died 10/27/1973)
Letter
Before the murder, Olga sent letters to the editorial office of two newspapers explaining that her actions were a retaliation for hatred towards her from her family and the rest of the world.
Dear Sirs!
I ask you to consider this letter a document. It was written in defense of my actions from disrespect and ridicule, and also as evidence that I am a person acting within the limits of the mental norm. <...>
Today, July 8th, I will hijack a bus and drive at full speed into a crowd of people. This will probably happen in Prague 7 at the UKOF .
Correction: the car will be a service tanker 706R [3] , a random place, a date too.
I will cause death to several people. I will be judged and punished.
And here is my confession (if I do not believe in priests and doctors, I still believe that there is at least one honest journalist).
Until the age of thirteen, I grew up in the claws of the so-called. good family. I was beaten and tortured - it was a toy for adults and a victim of schoolchildren (and forever an outsider among peers). I have nicknames: MEGER, MUMIA, TARZAN, BROKEN ANGEL, STONE FLOWER, THE SLEEPING VIRGIN, OUR PET, etc. My tormentors are merciless. I am an ugly member of the herd and a black sheep of the family. As far as I have enough memory, I was a loner. I have no friends and never will be. I fall into despair and as a result: run away. Escapes from school, from home, from life <...>
... I am worse off than American blacks. Why? Because I am alone. I was lynched a thousand times. <...> I am a destroyed man. A man destroyed by people ... I have the opportunity to choose - to kill myself, or to kill others. I choose - REVENGE YOUR HATERS. If I left as an unknown suicide, it would be too easy for you.
And because society is so sovereign, it is not capable of judging itself. He is judged privately, sometimes it is punished, sometimes only shocked.
My verdict is this: I, Olga Gepnarova, a victim of your atrocities, sentenced you to death through hitting and proclaim that my life is worth many others.Acta non verba
Original text (Czech)Vážení,prosím abyste přijali tento list jako dokument. Byl napsán na obranu proti případnému znevážení a zesměšnění mého činu, také jako poukázání na to, že jsem člověk pohybující se dosud v mezích duševní normy.
Dnes, dne 8.7., Ukradnu autobus a plnou rychlostí vjedu do davu lidí. Stane se to pravděpodobně v Praze 7 u PKOJF.
Oprava: vůz bude služební 706R cisterna, místo libovolné a datum též.
Zaviním smrt x lidí. Budu souzena a potrestána.
A toto je má zpověď (nevěřím-li v kněze ani v lékaře, stále ještě věřím, že se najde aspoň jeden poctivý novinář)
Do třinácti let vyrůstám v pařátech tzv. dobré rodiny. Jsem bita a týrána - hračka dospělých a oběť školních dětí (a navždy už outsider mezi vrstevníky). Mám přezdívky: DRAČICE, MUMIE, TARZAN, NALOMENÝ ANDĚL, KAMENNÝ KVÍTEK, SPÍCÍ PANNA, NÁŠ MILÁČEK a pod. Moji trapiči jsou nemilosrdní. Jsem zrůdný člen stáda a černá ovce rodiny. Pokud má paměť sahá jsem osamělá. Nemám přátele a nikdy mít nebudu. Upadám v zoufalství a výsledek: útěky. Útěky ze školy, z domova, ze života <...>
Jsem v horším postavení než americký černoch. Proč? Protože jsem sama. Tisíckrát jsem byla lynčována. <...> Jsem zničený člověk. Člověk zničený lidmi. Mám tedy na vybranou: zabít sebe, nebo zabít druhé. A rozhoduji se takto: OPLATIT SVÝM NENÁVISTNÍKŮM. Kdybych odešla jako neznámý sebevrah, bylo by to pro vás příliš laciné.
A protože společnost je tak velký suverén, že není schopna sama sebe odsoudit, bývá souzena soukromě, někdy je potrestána, někdy jen šokována.
Můj rozsudek zní: Já, Olga Hepnarová, oběť vaší bestiality, odsuzuji vás k trestu smrti přejetím a prohlašuji, že za můj život je x lidí málo. Acta non verba
Due to the slowness of the mail, letters were delivered only two days after the murder.
Judgment and Execution
During the investigation, Gepnarova was recognized sane, showed no remorse for her actions and stated that her goal was to kill as many people as possible. Despite the fact that Olga Gepnarova was a purely civilian, she was sent to a tribunal and she was forbidden to cooperate with a lawyer. On April 6, 1974, she was sentenced to death . The verdict was confirmed by the Czech Criminal Tribunal, and then by the Supreme Court of Czechoslovakia. On March 3, 1975, the acting president of the republic, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the HRC Gustav Husak [4] (according to other sources, Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Lyubomir Shtrougal [5] ) rejected Olga's mother’s request for pardon, as a result of which the latter was fined and then fired from work . On March 12, Olga Gepnarova was hanged in the Prague prison Pankrats [6] . Death was ascertained at 6 hours 40 minutes in the morning. The writer Bogumil Grabal quoted in one of his books (Ponorné říčky (The Underground River), 1991) the story of the executioner, according to which Olga fell and refused to get up before the execution and had to be pulled to the gallows; already in the loop, she resisted and tried to fight the executioner. The information from this story is cited in many sources about Gepnarova as facts, but its reliability is extremely doubtful: in the official report on the execution of Gepnarova there are no references to any such incidents. This story, apparently, is Grabal’s fiction: the same book contains a story about the execution of another Czech criminal, contrary to known facts [7] .
Interestingly, the street where Olga Gepnarova committed her crime is now called after Milad Gorakova , another woman hanged in Pankrats 25 years before her (on trumped-up charges after the political process).
In the cinema
In 2016, the premiere of the film “ I, Olga Gepnarova ” ( Czech Já, Olga Hepnarová ) was directed by directors Tomasz Weinreba and Petr Kazda [8] . The role of Gepnarova is performed by the Polish actress Mikhalina Olshanskaya [9] .
Notes
- ↑ Olga Hepnarová 30.6.1951 - 12.3.1975 - The Zábrodí case
- ↑ Taxus Bohemica: Edice hostů
- ↑ Škoda truck
- ↑ Kriminální případy> Olga Hepnarová - tragédie na zastávce | Policie ČR
- ↑ Olga Hepnarová 30.6.1951 - 12.3.1975 - One more try
- ↑ Pankrac / Prague / Archived March 8, 2009 on Wayback Machine . Prison of the Czech capital
- ↑ 12.3.1975 and what happened next
- ↑ Vyprodáno, hlásí po startu na Berlinale film Já, Olga Hepnarová (Czech) . iDNES.cz (February 13, 2016).
- ↑ Já, Olga Hepnarová (2013) - režie: Petr Kazda, Tomáš Weinreb (Czech)
Links
- Site dedicated to Olga Gepnarova (Czech) (English) (Russian) .
- Roman Cílek. Oprátka za osm mrtvých (Roman Zilek. Loop for eight dead) (Czech) . ISBN 80-7179-285-3
- A selection of photographs: the scene of the crime, the photo of Gepnarova after her arrest, etc.