"I read in Rudé právo that anyone who puts down a certain amount of dollars can go away for a few days. There was no talk of canonization. I said to myself - after all, that's such a small sum that I'll pay it out of my monthly salary. So I sat down and started writing a letter: 'Dear Father Zvěřina, who was one of the leaders of the Catholic dissent, I have this opportunity. I offer you to put together a group of twenty people and I will pay for it. And he did, and they all went to Rome. All except Zvěřina himself, Radim Palouš, the rector of the university, and someone else. My beloved niece's parents were also there, and they had a great time. I was there too. We even talked to John Paul. He was a brilliant man. He understood me perfectly when I spoke Czech. I didn't understand him very well, which I was ashamed of. Fortunately, he was there with Don Stanislao, later Cardinal Diviš, and he translated into Slovak in an interesting way. He knows Slovak because he used to go skiing there. There were also some great Czech personalities there. For example, the poet Zdeněk Rotrekl."
"My mother gave me a large sum of money, at least a large sum for me at the time, and she said to, you need clothes and shoes, so go buy all that. I counted my money and went to buy a ticket to the National Theatre and then to the Rudolfinum for a concert. So there were no shoes, no dresses, but I saw Dalibor for the last time and there was a piano concert at the Rudolfinum. And then when I came back in January 1990, I went and bought a ticket to the National Theatre and to the Rudolfinum. There was no Smetana at the National Theatre, it was almost neglected, but there were very beautiful performances of Janáček operas. I think the first opera I saw there was Jenůfa, and there was an orchestral concert at the Rudolfinum."
Libuše Paukertová-Leharová was born on 11 January 1933 in Prague to Břetislav and Libuše Morávek. Her father, Břetislav, was a diplomat on a trip to Berlin with President Hácha in March 1939. After the February coup, the whole family had to leave the republic. Dad was arrested the day he escaped. Mom and her two daughters left for Switzerland a few months after dad. Libuše studied in Morocco, Paris, Bruges and London. All the while she worked at the UN and helped Olga Masaryk as her personal assistant. Her first husband Felix Paukert worked at the UN together with Libuše. After his death, she remarried to nuclear physicist František Lehár. In November 1989, she advocated (and paid for) the arrival of twenty Czechs to the Vatican for the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia. After the fall of communism, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. In 2012, she was awarded the Distinguished Czech Woman in the World award.
Grandfather František Udržal with T. G. Masaryk in Topolčianky - Conference after lunch, during which it was decided to call elections, 22 September 1929
Grandfather František Udržal with T. G. Masaryk in Topolčianky - Conference after lunch, during which it was decided to call elections, 22 September 1929
Opening of the St Wenceslas Treasure with the crown and jewels - Mayor Baxa, Abbot Zavoral, Grandfather F. Udržal, Karel Kašpar, Chancellor Šámal, 1929
Opening of the St Wenceslas Treasure with the crown and jewels - Mayor Baxa, Abbot Zavoral, Grandfather F. Udržal, Karel Kašpar, Chancellor Šámal, 1929
On the left, Tomáš Masaryk's daughter Olga, second from the left Karel Čapek, on the right in white TGM, next to him František Udržal - Libuše Paukertová-Leharová's grandfather
On the left, Tomáš Masaryk's daughter Olga, second from the left Karel Čapek, on the right in white TGM, next to him František Udržal - Libuše Paukertová-Leharová's grandfather
Libuše Paukertová-Leharová was born on Wednesday 11 January 1933 at 2.10 pm in Prague at the Dejvice Military Hospital. In the photo with her assistant Mrs. Dlouha
Libuše Paukertová-Leharová was born on Wednesday 11 January 1933 at 2.10 pm in Prague at the Dejvice Military Hospital. In the photo with her assistant Mrs. Dlouha
František Lehár, climbing Pik Lenin in Pamir, cheering at the top. From left: Rost'a, Franta, Marta with the flag, Mirek and Pavel. The forces were just enough for one picture. Last breath,1965
František Lehár, climbing Pik Lenin in Pamir, cheering at the top. From left: Rost'a, Franta, Marta with the flag, Mirek and Pavel. The forces were just enough for one picture. Last breath,1965
