Anna Letenská
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Anna Čalounová-Letenská (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Anna Svobodová) (29 August 1904 – 24 October 1942) was a Czech theatre and film actress. During the 1930s and 40s, she appeared in twenty-five films. She was murdered in the
Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
of Mauthausen. Fikejz (2007), p. 52 Motl (2006), p. 121


Biography


Early career

Anna Letenská was born in
Nýřany Nýřany (; german: Nürschan) is a town in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,900 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Doubrava and Kamenný Újezd are administrative parts of Nýřany. Geo ...
,
Plzeň Region Plzeň Region ( cs, Plzeňský kraj; german: Pilsner Region) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň (English, german: Pilsen). In terms of area, Plzeň Reg ...
, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. She was brought up in a theatrical environment - both of her parents, Marie Svobodová (1871–1960) and Oldřich Svoboda (died 1939), and her sister, Růžena Nováková (1899–1984), were actors. She made her first appearance on stage at an early age. Letenská began her professional stage career in 1919 as a member of the Suková-Kramulová theatre company and went on to work with theatre companies in České Budějovice (1920–29), Olomouc (1930–31),
Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
(1931–35), and
Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...
(1935–36). Fikejz (2007), p. 51 While working with the theatre company of Otto Alfredi she met and befriended the
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
actor Ludvík Hrdlička, who performed under the stage name "Letenský". They wed in January 1925 and the following year had a son, Jiří (who later himself worked as an actor and radio speaker). However, the marriage was not a happy one and they divorced in 1940. They had previously moved to Prague in 1936 where after a series of short-term engagements Letenská found employment with the
Vinohrady Theatre Vinohrady Theatre ( cs, Divadlo na Vinohradech) is a theatre in Vinohrady, Prague. Construction began on February 27, 1905. It served as the Theatre of the Czechoslovak Army from autumn 1950 to January 1966. It contains a curtain painted by Vla ...
(1939–42). She performed in Czech and world theatre repertoire and was known for her comic performances in the role of down-to-earth, energetic women characters. Letenská's film debut was in (1937). In her next film, (1938), she appeared alongside her husband. She was able to exploit her talent for comedy in the film , which is regarded as the starting-point of her successful film career. Her career in the cinema was more varied than her theatre career, with appearances in minor and major roles as maidservants, concierges, aunties, wives and mothers. However it was a short one, lasting only from 1937 to 1942. This was the period of the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and the start of World War II in Europe.


World War II

On 27 May 1942, in an action known as Operation Anthropoid, two Czechoslovak parachutists,
Jozef Gabčík Jozef Gabčík (; 8 April 1912 – 18 June 1942) was a Slovak soldier in the Czechoslovak Army involved in the Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of acting ''Reichsprotektor'' (Imperial-Protector) of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, ...
and
Jan Kubiš Jan Kubiš (24 June 1913 – 18 June 1942) was a Czech soldier, one of a team of Czechoslovak British-trained paratroopers sent to eliminate acting Reichsprotektor (Realm-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydri ...
, ambushed and fatally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Reich-Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, while he was being driven through the Prague suburb of Libeň. The Nazis embarked on a large-scale operation to find and capture the assassins. They searched the whole of
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and Moravia, investigating over 4,750,000 inhabitants and combing 60 large forest areas. Motl (2006), p. 116 One of the assassins, Kubiš, had been wounded in the face by a fragment of the bomb thrown at Heydrich's car. He escaped and was helped by MUDr. Břetislav Lyčka, who lived in the Karlín district of Prague. After
Karel Čurda Karel Čurda (10 October 1911 in Stará Hlína, today part of Třeboň – 29 April 1947 in Prague) was a Czech Nazi collaborator during World War II. Wartime activities A soldier of the Czechoslovak army in exile, Čurda was parachuted into th ...
's betrayal of his Resistance colleagues and friends, Lyčka and his wife Františka Lyčková were forced to split up and find separate places to hide. At the time Letenská was working on the film , directed by Otakar Vávra. In 1941, she had married the architect Vladislav Čaloun. Prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Čaloun had been involved in helping people persecuted by Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. His activities came to the notice of the party's extremist supporters and he was expelled from Slovakia in 1939. In Prague, Čaloun continued working to help people threatened by the Nazi régime leave the country. He and his new wife became friends with the Lyčkas. Both Čaloun and Dr. Lyčka were members of the illegal organisation called and were closely connected with the group helping Heydrich's assassins. According to the original version of events, Letenská gave shelter to Františka Lyčková. Motl (2006), p. 117 However, according to the subsequent account given by the Czech actor
Svatopluk Beneš Svatopluk Beneš (24 February 1918 – 27 April 2007) was a Czechoslovak film actor. He appeared in 90 films and television shows between 1934 and 2003. Selected filmography * ''Pacientka Dr. Hegla'' (1940) * ''Pohádka máje'' (1940) * ''L ...
, Letenská told him a different version of the story. She had gone to a wine bar with her second husband where they met a man who introduced himself as a friend of Čaloun's brother and asked if they could give him a bed for one night. According to Beneš, the man was apparently Doctor Lyčka. Motl (2006), p. 117-118 Despite being helped by Letenská and her husband, Lyčková was soon arrested by the Gestapo. After being tortured, she revealed the secret identity and whereabouts of her husband. Lyčka committed suicide in a cellar in Ouběnice, shortly before his arrest. Letenská came under suspicion of helping the assassins. Motl (2006), p. 118 Surprisingly, only her husband was arrested and Letenská was allowed to remain at large, purportedly because she was one of the stars of the still unfinished movie . Miloš Havel (uncle of the former Czech President Václav Havel), an influential producer at the Barrandov Studios, is said to have intervened to prevent her arrest so that the film could be completed. Havel was the owner of Lucernafilm, producers of the film. Motl (2006), p. 119. Letenská remained under Gestapo surveillance while filming continued. According to Otakar Vávra, the film's director, "throughout this time Anna Letenská would sit with her head held between her hands although she appeared as cheerful as could be in front of the camera. We understood that she was preparing herself to die."


Imprisonment and death

Once production of the film had been completed, Letenská was arrested and imprisoned. Accounts of her last days in Prague differ. Her colleague, the actor Antonín Strnad, said that Letenská was arrested and then shortly after that she was released very briefly, only so that she could terminate her contract of employment at the Vinohrady Theatre. Strnad met her in the theatre, in tears. Motl (2006), pp. 120-121 Another actor,
František Filipovský František Filipovský (23 September 1907 – 26 October 1993) was a Czechoslovak stage, television, and film actor. Life and career Early life and theatre Filipovský was born on 23 September 1907 in the Czech town of Přelouč, then part of A ...
, claimed that he was probably the last person who talked to her. He met her in a tram at Wenceslas Square and asked: "Where are you going, Anka?" She replied: "Ah, they summoned me to an interrogation at Gestapo, again. What could they ask me?" Then she got out of the tram and vanished into the crowd. "I never saw her again", Filipovský said. The final version tells how Letenská was arrested by the German interrogator Heinz Jantur on 3 September 1942. She dropped a little talisman as she was getting into a Gestapo car. It was a picture of a Czech landscape. The German officers allowed her to pick it up; Letenská kissed the picture, and got into the car. According to Strnad, she gave the talisman to her cellmates shortly before her execution. She asked them, if they survived, to give it to the actors at the theatre. One of the camp inmates is said to have brought the picture to the theatre after the war. Letenská was briefly imprisoned in
Pankrác Prison Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison (''Vazební věznice Praha Pankrác'' in Czech language, Czech), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in ...
before being taken to Theresienstadt concentration camp on 5 October 1942. On 23 October, she was transported to Mauthausen along with a group of 135 women and girls referred to as "the parachutists" (they were relatives of Heydrich's assassins or otherwise linked to the assassination). On arrival in the camp they were taken to the camp bathrooms where they were turned over to the privileged criminal inmates for their amusement. The next day they were taken to a "consulting room" in the camp for a medical examination. The consulting room, located in a building referred to as "the bunker", was in fact an execution chamber (in German: ) masquerading as a medical facility. The women were brought to the room one by one for their supposed examination and then shot there at two-minute intervals. Anna Letenská was shot in the head in the bunker at 10:56 on 24 October 1942. Her name and the date of her execution were carefully recorded by German officials. Letenská's husband Vladislav Čaloun was shot on 26 January 1943, at 16:45. The film was premiered two months after her death. The novel (''The Hangman Won't Wait'', 1958) by
Norbert Frýd Norbert Frýd (born Norbert Fried) (21 April 1913 – 18 March 1976) was a Czech writer, journalist and diplomat. He is known mainly for his autobiographical novel ''Krabice živých'' (A Box of Lives, 1956), in which he describes his experience ...
was inspired by Anna Letenská's life story. A film adaptation of the novel was made in 1971 starring
Jiřina Bohdalová Jiřina Bohdalová (born 3 May 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic) is a Czech actress. Career She began acting in theatre and film at an early age. She was accepted to The Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts ...
. A street in the Vinohrady district of Prague is named after Anna Letenská.


Selected theatre roles

* 1937 - Guest performance in the play ''Těžká Barbora'',
Osvobozené divadlo Osvobozené divadlo (1926–1938) (''Liberated Theatre'' or ''Prague Free Theatre'') was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil (''Butterbur'') in 1926. The theatr ...
( V+ W), directed by Jindřich Honzl Holzknecht (2007), p. 201 * 1939 - Heinrich von Kleist: ''
The Broken Jug ''The Broken Jug'' (german: Der zerbrochne Krug, link=no, , also sometimes translated ''The Broken Pitcher'') is a comedy written by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. Kleist first conceived the idea for the play in 1801, upon looking at ...
'', Frau Marthe, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1939 - William Shakespeare: ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'', Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Bohuš Stejskal * 1939 - A. Pacovská: , Marie, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Jiří Plachý * 1940 -
Josef Kajetán Tyl Josef Kajetán Tyl (4 February 180811 July 1856; ) was a significant Czech dramatist, writer, and actor. He was a notable figure in the Czech National Revival movement and is best known as the author of the current national anthem of the Czech Re ...
: , Kordula, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Gabriel Hart * 1940 - K. R. Krpata: , Katovka-Rosina, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1940 - Gerhart Hauptmann: ''
The Beaver Coat ''The Beaver Coat'' (german: Der Biberpelz) is a satirical play by Gerhart Hauptmann premiered in Berlin in 1893. The work is an example of a German naturalistic ''Diebskomödie'', or 'thief's comedy'. The drama takes place "somewhere in Berlin ...
'', Mother Wolff, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1941 - Alexander Ostrovsky: '' The Storm'', Varvara, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1941 - A. Pacovská: , Pelikánová, Vinohradské divadlo, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Jiří Plachý * 1941 - Lila Bubelová: , Marie Poustecká, Chamber Theater, directed by Antonín Kandert * 1941 - Aristophanes: ''
Ecclesiazusae ''Assemblywomen'' ( grc-gre, Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι ''Ekklesiazousai''; also translated as, ''Congresswomen'', ''Women in Parliament'', ''Women in Power'', and ''A Parliament of Women'') is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristo ...
'', Praxagora, Theatre Na poříčí, directed by Jiří Plachý


Films

* 2009 - Fred Breinersdorfer: Andula, Besuch in einem anderen Leben', documentary, movie, 2009, director: Fred Breinersdorfer, with Hannah Herzsprung, WDR, RBB, arte * 2009 - Fred Breinersdorfer Spiel ums Leben, TV-documentary, 2009, WDR, RBB, arte


Selected film roles

* 1937 - , housemaid, directed by Miloslav Jareš * 1938 - , directed by Miroslav Cikán, Karel Lamač * 1938 - * 1939 - , directed by Václav Kubásek * 1939 - * 1940 - , directed by František Čáp * 1940 - , directed by Jan Alfréd Holman * 1940 - , directed by Vladimír Borský * 1941 - , directed by Karel Špelina * 1941 - , directed by Miroslav Cikán * 1942 - , directed by Martin Frič * 1942 - , directed by Vladimír Slavínský * 1942 - , directed by Václav Binovec * 1942 - , directed by Otakar Vávra


Notes


References

* * *


External links


Anna Letenská at Czech and Slovak Film Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Letenska, Anna 1904 births 1942 deaths People from Nýřany People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech stage actresses Czech film actresses 20th-century Czech actresses Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II People who died in Mauthausen concentration camp Czech people executed in Nazi concentration camps Executed Czech people People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm