Daughter of WWII resistance fighter to be honoured with state award

President Pavel wants to award the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to Zdena Mašínová, daughter of the executed anti-Nazi resistance fighter Josef Mašín, at a state awards ceremony on October 28, Czech news server Aktuálně.cz reported on Wednesday. This state honour is awarded by the president to people who have contributed to the development of democracy and human rights.

Mašínová is still debating whether to accept the award, saying that her family fought against totalitarian regimes because they saw it as a duty, not because they wanted to receive awards.

According to Aktuálně.cz, the 89-year-old Mašínová was surprised by a visit from President Petr Pavel last week, during which he told her that he wanted to present her with the award.

Last year, former president Miloš Zeman posthumously awarded Zdena's father, Josef Mašín, who was a member of the resistance group Tři Králové during World War II, with a state honour, but Mašínová refused to accept the award from him, so defence minister Černochová represented her at the ceremony. However, she told Aktuálně.cz that she would accept the award from Mr Pavel.

Mašínová is also the sister of Ctirad and Josef Mašín, the brothers who put up armed resistance against the communist regime. While they escaped to West Berlin in the 1950s and never returned to the Czech Republic, Zdena stayed in the country and was persecuted by the regime until the revolution.