Hana Frejková: Strange Roots
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 22, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Ludvík Frejka, the father of actress and singer Hana Frejková, was charged with espionage and treason in the 1952 show trial of Rudolf Slánský and a subversive conspiratorial group, sentenced to death and executed.
At that time Hana was seven. Her life was marked forever by the tragedy and this was compounded by how little she knew about the history of her father and entire family. She spent several years reconstructing the story of her family as an adult, searching out and corresponding with relatives but mainly focusing on the archives of the Ministry of the Interior. The complicated, decades-long journey through ancient events and what she learned on that difficult pilgrimage are the subject of her tellingly-titled book Divný kořeny (Strange Roots).
“The result was that he was hanged. Mum suffered her whole life and I was buffeted about on the waves. The ones who paid for it the most were us, who loved each other so much, our little family, which fatefully found itself in the embrace of crushing stones.”
The songs of Jidiš ve třech will be performed at the launch of the audiobook of Strange Roots. The group are: Hana Frejková – vocals, Marianna Borecká – vocals (guest), Milan Potoček – clarinet and Slávek Brabec – accordion.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with publishers Radioservis.