"We all had to call each other comrade. At first it was very difficult for us as young people to call the professor comrade. We had a mechanic at the institute at that time who had trained with Siemens and he was such a distinguished gentleman, extremely skilful. What we needed, he did. In those days it was not possible to buy anything, instruments, or modify anything. He was extremely handy. So one day we had a meeting and something was needed, so Mr. Bartůněk was also called in. A colleague called him 'Mr. Bartůněk' and Professor Herčík said, 'And why don't you call him Comrade Bartůněk?' And the colleague said, 'Comrade Professor, I have respect for his grey hair.' And the professor jokingly said, 'And you don't have respect for my baldness?'"
"I don't know if I was followed or not. The fact is that before my first trip abroad, when I got the Atomic Energy Agency international scholarship, that someone from the police came and talked to me or wanted to give me some instructions or something, but mainly they emphasized that I had to come back and that I must not emigrate." - "On the contrary, some effort to get you..." - "No, no, it was only once and I felt uncomfortable about it, but fortunately I was never contacted again after that."
"Well, the comeback wasn't exactly pleasant. The first problem was that I was immediately kicked out of the party because I had been in the United States. I had been head of the Department of Molecular Biology, so I wasn't allowed to hold that position. Then there were problems when my children were growing up and applying to university, specifically medical school, so I was the black sheep who was spoiling their references. But despite that, I fought for my children again, and that's how my sons eventually graduated from medical school."
"I was a pretty normal student, I wasn't a troublemaker. One day I came home from school and my father sternly reprimanded me and asked me what I had done in school, that he was summoned to see the headmaster. I swore that I really hadn't done anything, that I wasn't aware of anything. My father had to go to the school, to the headmaster, and when he came back he was quite calm and took me to another room and started talking to me very calmly, saying that times were serious and difficult and that I didn't even notice it all and that I had to be calm. Then I asked what I had done. Well, we were learning the Heil Hitler salute and I was laughing at that."
Oncologist and radiobiologist senior lecturer MUDr. Zdenka Hradečná, CSc., DrSc., was born on 27 January 1927 in Brno. Her father František Hradečný was a general practitioner, her mother Marie, née Šujanová, was a teacher by education. Her grandfather was František Šujan, a prominent Brno historian and teacher. When Zdenka Hradečná was four years old, her mother died, and from then on her grandparents played an important role in her upbringing. Zdenka Hradečná graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University in Brno. In the 1950s she became the first woman in Czechoslovakia to work with an electron microscope. She married Vlastislav Filkuka, a doctor of law, and had two children. For many years she worked at the Biophysical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Brno, where she headed the department of molecular biology and studied the effects of ionizing radiation. During the 1960s and 1970s she participated in many internships and foreign working stays in prestigious scientific institutes. After 1989 she worked in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison, USA. In 2020, she was awarded the City of Brno Prize for 2019. Zdenka Hradečná passed away in 2024.
Mrs Hradečná's brother Pavel Hradečný, historian and Balkanist. He translated Albanian for President Havel during his visit to Kosovo. Pictured in the middle.
Mrs Hradečná's brother Pavel Hradečný, historian and Balkanist. He translated Albanian for President Havel during his visit to Kosovo. Pictured in the middle.
Ferdinand Herčík (7 May 1905 Prague - 20 January 1966 Brno) - biophysicist, radiologist, founder of the Institute of Biophysics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Mrs. Hradečná worked for a long time under his direction at the Biophysical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Ferdinand Herčík (7 May 1905 Prague - 20 January 1966 Brno) - biophysicist, radiologist, founder of the Institute of Biophysics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Mrs. Hradečná worked for a long time under his direction at the Biophysical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Zdenka Hradečná's grandparents. Grandfather František Šujan was instrumental in the construction of the new building of the Second Czech Real School in Brno on Křenová Street.
Zdenka Hradečná's grandparents. Grandfather František Šujan was instrumental in the construction of the new building of the Second Czech Real School in Brno on Křenová Street.
