Czech-American anti-communist campaigner Irena Kirkland dies at 81

One of the most highly regarded Czech-Americans in Washington Irena Kirkland has died at the age of 81. After surviving Auschwitz she fell foul of the communist authorities in Czechoslovakia before moving to Israel and later the USA. Irena Kirkland did a lot to help the anti-communist movement in her native country and received the Czech Foreign Ministry's Gratis Agit award just a week before her death.