Naděžda Kavalírová

Naděžda Kavalírová is a Czech paramedic, human rights activist, and former political prisoner who resisted the Communist government in Czechoslovakia. Born in 1923, she joined the opposition movement after the Communist takeover in 1948. Kavalírová’s opposition would see her expelled from all universities in Czechoslovakia and years later sentenced to a three-year political prisoner sentence from 1956 to 1959. 

Kavalírová served as the leader of the Confederation of Political Prisoners for many years and was elected to the council of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes where she would serve until her passing in 2017. In acknowledgment of her contributions to the development of democracy and human rights, Kavalírová has been awarded the Medal of Honor and Gratitude of the Jan Masaryk Society and the Order of Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk.