Dagmar Šimková

Following the communist coup of February 1948 in Czechoslovakia, as many as 100,000 people were prosecuted for ‘political crimes’, most of whom were sentenced to lengthy periods in penal institutions and forced labour camps, including Dagmar Šimková, who later produced a detailed autobiographical account of her experiences in prison, Byly jsme tam taky [“We were there too”].

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Anna Akhmatova

Anna Andreevna Akhmatova used poetry to give voice to the struggles and deepest yearnings of the Russian people, for whom she remains the greatest of literary heroines.

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