Death of Božena Fuková, a courageous member of parliament who rejected the Soviet occupation

On 18 May 2017 the death was announced, after a long illness, of Božena Fuková, economist and former Member of Parliament of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, who on 18 October 1968 voted with František Kriegel, Gertruda Sekaninová-Čakrtová and František Vodsloň against the agreement concerning the "temporary stay" of Soviet troops on Czechoslovak territory. For her indomitable stance she was gradually stripped of all her political functions, thrown out of her employment, and during Normalisation harassed by the secret police. After the Velvet Revolution. as part of the process of co-option, she sat as deputy in the lower house of the Federal Parliament until the first free elections in 1990. She was also a member of the commission for the departure of the Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia. After the 1990 elections and until the division of Czechoslovakia she worked in the Public Relations Department of the Office of the Federal Assembly.

Božena Fuková was awarded the Order of Ľudovít Štúr (2006), the Accolade of the Golden Linden (2008) and the František Kriegel Award (2014) for her action in 1968.