COURAGE

connecting collections

Milena Šimsová and her husband Jan Šimsa were representatives of the Protestant dissent in Brno. She was born on 5 October 1932 in Turčiansky Svätý Martin in Slovakia, but later moved to Brno. She graduated at Brno´s Faculty of Arts in 1956. Twelve years later, she also completed her doctoral studies there. Šimsová published several books, including a book about her father-in-law, a prominent representative of the Nazi resistance movement Jaroslav Šimsa: Svět Jana Šimsy a Úzkost a naděje: Dopisy sny, události let 1940–1945 (together with Jan Šimsa). At the time of normalisation, she cooperated with her husband in dissent activities, and also attended underground university lectures in Božena Komárková´s flat. In 2006 she was awarded the Prix Irene. 

Breda Škrjanec is a museum advisor in charge of the Study Room and Collection at the International Centre of Graphic Arts. She is art historian and sociologist by education and training. She was one of the founders of the feminist group Lilit, which represented the beginning of the lesbian and women’s movement in Slovenia in the 1980s.

Josef Škvorecký was a Czech-Canadian writer, translator and exile publisher. He studied English and Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague and since the 1950s he worked as an editor and writer. One of his most famous works was his first novel containing autobiographical elements entitled “Zbabělci” (“The Cowards”) (published in 1958), depicting the last days of the Second World War in the city of Náchod (in the book Kostelec) from the point of view of the Škvorecký’s literary alter ego Danny Smiřický. In 1969, Škvorecký and his wife Zdena Salivarová emigrated from Czechoslovakia and settled in Toronto, Canada, where he taught at the University. In 1971, they founded the Sixty-Eight Publishers exile publishing house, which published mainly Czechoslovak exile literature and works by authors banned in Czechoslovakia. Until 1994, the publisher issued a total of 227 titles. In 1990 Czechoslovak president Václav Havel awarded Josef Škvorecký and Zdena Salivarová the Order of the White Lion.

Oldřich Škácha (1941–2014) was a Czech documentary photographer and dissident. He graduated in photography from the State School of Graphic Design in Prague. In the 1960s he worked as  a photo-reporter for the magazine Svět sovětů (The World of the Soviets, 1964–1966) and his photographs also appeared in other Czechoslovak periodicals. At that time he also collaborated with the Barrandov film studios (1962–1966). After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by troops from the Warsaw Pact, he lived for a short time in Germany and in France, but then he returned to Czechoslovakia. During Normalization, however, he was not allowed to photograph officially. He specialized in portraits of figures from Czech culture and became famous as Václav Havel’s trusted photographer. He documented the life of the dissidents, in particular Charter 77. His photographs have been exhibited in many countries.