Olga Hepnarová was a Czech

Czech people

Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 mass murderer, who in 1973 killed 8 people with a truck. She was convicted and executed in 1975.

Life

Olga Hepnarová was born on June 30, 1951 in Prague. She was the daughter of a bank clerk and her mother was a dentist

Dentist

A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...

. She was an average child, but she later developed psychiatric problems; in 1964 she attempted suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 (by swallowing medication) and spent a year in a psychiatric ward in Opařany.

Later, she worked in various places but was fired shortly after being hired. She ended up as a truck driver.

Mass murder

On July 10, 1973 she drove a truck into a group of about 25 people waiting for a tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 in Prague 7

Prague 7

Prague 7 is a municipal district in Prague, Czech Republic.The administrative district of the same name consists of the quarters Letná, Holešovice, Bubny, Bubeneč, Troja as well as a small part of Liben. Its one of the smallest Prague districts and stretches along the left bank of the Vltava,...

, on a street today named after Milada Horáková

Milada Horáková

Dr. Milada Horáková was a Czech politician executed by Communists on charges of conspiracy and treason.- Biography :...

 (then it was named "Defenders of Peace"). Three people died immediately, three more died later the same day and two in a few days (all aged between 60 to 79). Six were badly injured, six lightly.

Before the murder, she sent a letter to two newspapers (Svobodné slovo and Mladý svět

Mladý Svet

Mladý Svět was a magazine published in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It contained editorials, comics and other works...

) explaining her action as revenge for all the hatred against her by her family and the world. Due to the slowness of the postal system the letter was received two days after the murder. She had planned the revenge against society in her head for a long time and included ideas of derailing a train or an explosion.
During the investigation, Hepnarová confirmed her intention was to kill as many people as possible and she expressed no regret. Psychology experts found her fully aware of her actions. She planned her actions, as she considered a slope leading to the stop. That allowed her to gain speed for the maximum death toll. The collision was her second attempt, as she felt there were not enough people on her first run.

On April 6, 1974, she was sentenced for murder to death

Death Sentence

Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...

 by the City Court; the sentence was affirmed by higher instance courts and the Supreme Court requalified the sentence to public endangerement with the same punishment upheld. After several psychiatric examinations she was deemed criminally responsible for her actions. The president, Gustav Husak, refused the request for pardon. The execution took place on March 12, 1975 in the Pankrác Prison

Pankrác Prison

Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison , is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic...

 in Prague. She was the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia.

According to the executioner, as recorded by writer Bohumil Hrabal

Bohumil Hrabal

Bohumil Hrabal was a Czech writer, regarded as one of the best writers of the 20th century.- Life and work :...

, just before the execution Hepnarová collapsed and had to be dragged to the gallows. The executioner of Hepnarova, years later, admitted that he had to quit his job, as he felt she made his job `disgusting` (she fought, threw up and defecated herself prior to hanging). The reliability of this tale, however, is put in question by the author of the detailed website about Hepnarová.

Literature

• Roman Cílek: Oprátka za osm mrtvých, 2001, ISBN 80-7179-285-3. A book about Hepnarová, contains a collection of contemporary documents.

External links

• Most detailed website about Hepnarová (In Czech)