Jiřina Švorcová
Encyclopedia
Jiřina Švorcová was a Czech
actress and pro-Communist activist. Her acting career lasted more than forty years, but she largely retired after the 1989 Velvet Revolution
and devoted herself to advocacy of the Communist Party.
Švorcová worked in zechoslovak] television
, theater and film
during the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia's Communist era. She spent more than forty years at the Vinohrady Theatre
in Prague
. Her best known work came during the 1970s in the Czechoslovak television series, Žena za pultem or A Woman Behind the Counter. Radio Prague
has called the series "fine example of communist propaganda
" noting the show's fictional grocery store was stocked with products unavailable to average Czechs and Slovaks at the time.
Švorcová was a devote supporter of Communism and a supporter of the former Communist government of Czechoslovakia. In 1976, Švorcová was appointed to the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
. She openly condemned the signatories of Charter 77
, who included Pavel Kohout
and Vaclav Havel
, as "traitors" to Communism and the country. She reiterated her disapproval of Charter 77 in a December 2010 interview with a Czech Radio reporter, "I think it’s wrong when someone finds out that they could not cope with the idea they helped to bring about. There were many, such as Pavel Kohout, who also believed the idea, but then they couldn’t cope with it and so they abandoned it. I think that’s wrong." Švorcová openly described her shock at the violence inflicted on protesters during the Prague Spring
and subsequent invasion
, but said she could never join the protests saying, "soon as people started to attack the Soviet Union
, calling them fascists and so on, I just could not do that. I absolutely couldn’t do that." Due to unapologetic support for the outgoing Communist regime, Švorcová's fellow actors at the Vinohrady Theatre, who supported the Velvet Revolution
, no longer supported her work at the theater after the fall of Communism.
Jiřina Švorcová retired from acting after 1989. She spent her later life as an activist and apologist for Communism and the former totalitarian government. She died in Prague
, Czech Republic
, on August 8, 2011, at the age of 83.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
actress and pro-Communist activist. Her acting career lasted more than forty years, but she largely retired after the 1989 Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
and devoted herself to advocacy of the Communist Party.
Švorcová worked in zechoslovak] television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, theater and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
during the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia's Communist era. She spent more than forty years at the Vinohrady Theatre
Vinohrady Theatre
Vinohrady Theatre 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 Vladimír Županský depicting a naked muse....
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Her best known work came during the 1970s in the Czechoslovak television series, Žena za pultem or A Woman Behind the Counter. Radio Prague
Radio Prague
Radio Prague is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic.Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Czech and Russian. It broadcasts programmes about the Czech Republic on shortwave, satellite and on the Internet...
has called the series "fine example of communist propaganda
Communist propaganda
Communist propaganda is propaganda aimed to advance the ideology of communism, communist worldview and interests of the communist movement.A Bolshevik theoretician, Nikolai Bukharin, in his The ABC of Communism wrote:...
" noting the show's fictional grocery store was stocked with products unavailable to average Czechs and Slovaks at the time.
Švorcová was a devote supporter of Communism and a supporter of the former Communist government of Czechoslovakia. In 1976, Švorcová was appointed to the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
. She openly condemned the signatories of Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
, who included Pavel Kohout
Pavel Kohout
Pavel Kohout is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring exponent and dissident in 1970s until he was expelled to Austria...
and Vaclav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, as "traitors" to Communism and the country. She reiterated her disapproval of Charter 77 in a December 2010 interview with a Czech Radio reporter, "I think it’s wrong when someone finds out that they could not cope with the idea they helped to bring about. There were many, such as Pavel Kohout, who also believed the idea, but then they couldn’t cope with it and so they abandoned it. I think that’s wrong." Švorcová openly described her shock at the violence inflicted on protesters during the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
and subsequent invasion
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...
, but said she could never join the protests saying, "soon as people started to attack the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, calling them fascists and so on, I just could not do that. I absolutely couldn’t do that." Due to unapologetic support for the outgoing Communist regime, Švorcová's fellow actors at the Vinohrady Theatre, who supported the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
, no longer supported her work at the theater after the fall of Communism.
Jiřina Švorcová retired from acting after 1989. She spent her later life as an activist and apologist for Communism and the former totalitarian government. She died in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, on August 8, 2011, at the age of 83.