Olga Hepnarová: the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia
Exactly fifty years ago, Olga Hepnarová became the last woman to be executed in Czechoslovakia. Her case still haunts the Czech public imagination. It was one of the most shocking crimes in Czechoslovakia's post-war history.
On July 10, 1973, 22-year-old Olga Hepnarová drove a truck into a group of people waiting at a tram stop in Prague, killing eight and injuring twelve. All her victims were elderly and Hepnarová never denied her actions. She even admitted that her crime was meant as an act of revenge against society. According to Aleš Kýr, Head of the History and Documentation Cabinet of the Czech Prison Service, her troubled life played a role but did not absolve her of responsibility:
"She had a problematic personality from a young age—issues in both family and school environments. Nevertheless, she managed to become a trained artistic bookbinder and held several jobs before becoming a driver for Prague’s municipal services in 1972."
A psychiatric evaluation found her criminally sane. She planned the act and carried it out with full awareness of the consequences. When her request for clemency was rejected and the sentence reviewed and upheld by the Supreme Federal Court, the execution was scheduled for March 12, 1975.
"The verdict could have been expected. At that time, the Criminal Code allowed a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. There was no such thing as life imprisonment, so the death penalty was seen as an appropriate punishment."
The execution was carried out by hanging in the basement of the main building of Prague's Pankrác Prison. The method was not unusual for that time.
"Since the days of Austria-Hungary and the First Czechoslovak Republic, the death penalty was carried out by hanging. Only in exceptional cases—during martial law or wartime—could it be carried out by shooting. That wasn’t the case here."
Olga Hepnarová was the 73rd woman to be executed in Czechoslovakia after 1945. Most of the women executed before her had collaborated with the Nazis. One—Milada Horáková—was sentenced to death for political reasons. Only five women were executed for murder. Hepnarová was the last of them.
"The last man to be executed was Vladimír Lulek, a five-time murderer from the Hradec Králové region. In 1986, he killed his wife and four children. He was executed on February 2, 1989."
After the fall of communism, the Czech and Slovak authorities began rethinking the use of capital punishment. Executions were officially suspended in 1990, and the country signed on to the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the death penalty. The treaty became formally binding for Czechoslovakia in 1992, and since then, the death penalty has had no place in Czech or Slovak law.
But the case of Olga Hepnarová remains a chilling and controversial chapter in Czech legal and social history—raising questions about justice, responsibility, and the boundaries of punishment in a democratic society.
