Františka Plamínková (1875-1942), Czech feminist and patriot

Nationalities Papers

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 1997, Pages

  Reinfeld, Barbara ^a  

^a NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

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EID: 5544240409     PISSN: 00905992     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00905999708408488     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Albína Honzáková, ed., Kniha života. Práce a osobnost F. F. Plamínkové 1875-1942 (Praha: Ženská národní rada, 1935), Vol. II, p. 721.
2. Czech women had their first exposure to feminism in the American Ladies Club, founded in 1865 by Vojta Náprstek, who had traveled widely in the United States and was impressed by the role of women in American life. Two Czech women writers, Božena Němcová (1820-1862) and Karolina Světlá (1830-1899), fought for educational opportunities for women; they first raised the question of emancipation.
3. Dr. Albína Honzáková, "Mládí F. F. Plamínkové," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 30.
4. The Young Czechs, an offshoot of the Old Czechs (the national party), and distinct from the Old Czechs since 1874, consisted of the more liberal elements among the Czechs; their membership came from small farmers and craftsmen. The Old Czechs were the first national party to form after the introduction of constitutionalism in Cisleithanian Austria; this party represented, chiefly, the well-educated, wealthy Czechs, allied with the nobility.
5. Bože Vitouškova, "Jak působila Paní Senátorka jako mladá učitelka na své zǎkyně" in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 128.
6. Božena Dědinová, "Vzpomínky ze školy i ze života," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 152.
7. See Marie Neudorfl, "Masaryk and the Women's Question," in Stanley B. Winters, ed., T. G. Masaryk (1850-1937): Thinker and Politician (New York; St. Martin's Press, 1990).
8. Charlotte Garrigue, the American woman whom Masaryk married, was a convinced feminist, and had a strong influence on Masaryk's thought. See Barbara Reinfeld, "Charlotte Garrigue (1850-1923)," Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1/2, Summer/ Winter 1988, pp. 90-104.
9. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, On Representation and On the Subjection of Women (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960). The first publication of this work was in 1867.
10. Františka F. Plamínková, "Žena budiž rovnoprávna muži," in Masaryk a zìeny, sborník (Praha: Ženská národní rada, 1930), p. 30.
11. Albína Honzáková, "Zápas za zrušení vnuceného celibátu výdělečně činných žen," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 60.
12. Although she rejected his proposal of marriage, Plamínková continued a friendship with Vilém Freyer until his death in 1938. In a letter to Albína Honzáková in 1932, Plamínková specifically directed her to burn a box of her correspondence with Freyer after her death. Plamínková stated that the letters to Vilém reflected a stage of her life when she was searching for her identity, therefore, any commitment to him would have been a mistake. Plamínková to Honzáková, dated 3 October 1932 in Box I in Plamínková's archival deposits in Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic.
13. Honzáková, "Zápas," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 68.
14. Alice Masaryk, the oldest daughter of the Masaryks, was a graduate of Minerva, the first academic gymnasium for young Czech women and had just earned a doctorate in philosophy from Charles University in 1903. At the University she was a co-founder of the Klub akademický vzdělaných žen, a Czech equivalent of the American Association of University Women. A feminist and a patriot, she was imprisoned by the Habsburg regime during World War I. After the war, she became President of the Czechoslovak Red Cross, a position she held until the end of the First Republic. Other members of the executive council of the club included, Marie Tůmová, Marie Vítková, Fráňa Zemínovå, Albína Honzáková and Karla Máchová. See Honzáková, "Práce F. F. Plamínkové v Ženském klubu českém," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 66.
15. Plamínková's archive in Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic, Boxes I and II.
16. Eva Uhrová, "Feministka," in Vlasta (1990/25).
17. A copy of this speech is in Box I, Plamińková's archive in Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic. Other well-known essays penned by Plamínková at this time were: "Svůj svému" ("Each to His Own"), "Žena v demokracii" ("Woman in a Democracy"), "Občanská rovnost zen v republice" ("Civil Equality of Women in a Republic"), "Učitel, žena, a muž" ("Teacher, Woman and Man") and "Právo vdané ženy k práci" ("The Right of Married Women to Work"). They were carried by these women's magazines: Zǐenský obzor ("Women's View"), Zǐenský svět ("Women's World"), Zǐenská revue ("Women's Review"), and Zǐenské listy ("Women's Journal").
18. For the relationship between Czech feminists and nationalism, see Katherine David, "Czech Feminists and Nationalism in the Late Habsburg Monarchy: The First in Austria," Journal of Women's History, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1991, pp. 26-45.
19. For the difficulties achieving parity with men, especially in any leadership positions within the national movement, see Claire Nolte, "Every Czech a Sokol!" in Austrian History Yearbook, Vol. XXIV, 1993, pp. 70-100.
20. On one such occasion, the delegation cornered representative Masaryk to find Baron Gautsch. When he saw the Czech women, he exclaimed: "Mein Gott, so viele Damen!" ("My God, so many women!") and promised to do something for women. See Laura Schmidtova, "Život v starém Volebním výboru," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 324.
21. A Slavic federation for suffrage was too ambitious, however, Plamínková's feminism served as an inspiration to other Slav women, especially the Yugoslavs. See Ivan Lah, "Vzpomínka slovinského studenta," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 304-308.
22. The International Alliance for Women's Suffrage Report for the Conference (1908), pp. 44-47. The same year, Plamínková wrote an article about emancipation for the Czech encyclopedia, "Ženská emancipace," Ottův slovník náučny (Praha: J. Otto, 1908), Vol. 27, p. 809
23. The International Alliance for Women's Suffrage Report for the Conference (1908), pp. 44-47. The same year, Plamínková wrote an article about emancipation for the Czech encyclopedia, "Ženská emancipace," Ottův slovník náučny (Praha: J. Otto, 1908), Vol. 27, p. 809
24. In the Czech lands, men and women who paid certain taxes or were members of the learned professions were allowed to vote in the elections for the Bohemian Diet and in municipal elections, except in Prague and Liberec. See, International Women Suffrage Alliance, Woman Suffrage in Practice (London and New York, 1913), p. 116.
25. This was the first election of a woman on a multi-party ticket; in Finland women had been elected as candidates of one party. See Richard J. Evans, The Feminists: Women's Emancipation Movements in Europe, America, and Australasia 1840-1920 (London: Croom Helm, 1978).
26. Referred to as temno (a period of darkness) it encompasses the period between the Battle of White Mountain, the defeat of the Hussite movement in 1620, and the beginning of the Czech National Renascence at the end of the eighteenth century. During this time the Czech language fell into disuse among the educated as many became Germanized; it remained the language of servants.
27. Kamil Harmach, "Průkopnice," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 211.
28. The question of whether or not she should be able to assume her seat in the Bohemian Diet was debated and supported by feminists at home and abroad. For instance, a delegation of German women in Vienna petitioned for her recognition as a delegate. See Ženská revue 7, 20 October 1912.
29. Juliana Lancová, "Několik pohledů zpět na Plamínkovou před válkou, čili co mi z nich nejsilněji utkvělo v mysli," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 218.
30. Ibid.
31. Ant. Lašmanová, "Vzpomínky na práci v ženskem klubu českém, " in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 202.
32. Zatloukalová-Coufalová, "F. P. ženy nezklamene," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 405-409.
33. Ant. Lašmanová, "Vzpomínky na práci ženském klubu českem," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 204.
34. Albína Honzáková, "Práce F. F. Plamínkové v osvobozené vlasti," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 171.
35. Matýašová, "Průkopnice," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 323.
36. Albína Honzáková, "Politická činnost F. F. Plamínkové v osvobozené vlasti," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 74-77.
37. Černý, "Vzpomínky na činnost F. F. Plamínkové z radnice a senátu," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, p. 505.
38. Petr Zenkl (1884-1975) became the chairman of the National Socialists after World War II and was the leader of the democratic coalition, which, in 1948, resigned in the abortive attempt to prevent Czech Communists from consolidating their power. 38. In an interview with a Swedish journalist in 1935, AIf Due, reprinted in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, p. 761.
39. Plamínková, "Ekonomická a sociálni posice žen v Ceskoslovenské republice," Politika, 26 May 1920.
40. Milada Horáková (1901-1950) proved to be Plamínková's disciple; she looked up to Plamínková, as a member of the older generation of feminists, for guidance and inspiration. A leading figure in the National Socialist party after World War II, she was executed by the Communists in 1950. See Zora Dvořáková, Milada Horáková (Praha: Středočeské nakladatelství, 1991).
41. Černý, "Vzpomínky na činnost F. F. Plamínkové z radnice a senátu," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, p. 505.
42. Vlasta Bartáková, "Paní F. F. Plamínková v práci pro Z{NR," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. I, p. 241.
43. The Women's Little Entente came into being after the formation of the Little Entente in 1923 (Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia). But it was broader than the Little Entente; it included Poland and Greece. The focus was on cultural exchanges amongst member countries. Plamínkovás interest in the Little Entente stemmed partly from her first-hand experience of Serbia and Bulgaria during the Balkan wars in 1912 when she traveled there as a reporter for Český Dělnik ("Czech Worker"), a paper edited by a National Socialist leader, Alois Simonides. She served as president of the organization in 1935.
44. Dr. Ferdinand Špísek, "Frantiśka Plamínková a její zahranični dílo," in Honzáková, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 675.
45. After the death of Charlotte Masaryk in 1923, Alice Masaryk became the Czechoslovak First Lady, but retained her active role as the head of the Czechoslovak Red Cross which she hoped to turn into a permanent instrument for the search for peaceful solutions to world problems. Masaryk continued his full support of the feminists, including a personal gift he made to the Women's National Council. See Bartáková, ibid. As a gesture of her gratitude for his steadfast support, Plamínková compiled a festschrift for Masaryk's eightieth birthday in 1930, Masaryk a ženy: sborník (Praha: Ženská národní rada, 1930).
46. Women and Social Protest, eds, Guida West, Rhoda Lois Blumberg (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 215.
47. The specially close relationship Czech feminists had with Americans was tied to Masaryk's American wife Charlotte, whose early example and inspiration was never forgotten. The Women's National Council pays homage to Charlotte Masaryk by laying a wreath on her grave at Lany cemetery every year on the anniversary of her death.
48. Anna Čapková, "F. Plamínková v America," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 634-660.
49. The statue was sculpted by Josef Strachovský and erected in Douglas Park in 1911 by the Czech-American community of Chicago. It was moved from that location in 1983 to the colonnade in front of the Adler Planetarium, Chicago Museum of Science.
50. Albína Honzáková, "Malá vzpomínka ze zájezdu na kongres ve Washingtoně 1925," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 705-707.
51. See Těsnopisné zprávy Národního Shromáždění (Congressional Record) for the years 1925-1937. On the budget committee of twenty-five, she was one of five National Socialists; on the Foreign Affairs committee of seventeen members, she was one of three. There were four other women in the Senate, but they did not form a coalition, rather staying loyal to their respective parties and the policies they followed.
52. Plamínková described a typical trip with Beneš to Geneva in a letter to Albína, Plamínková to Honzáková, 5 March 1932 in Plamínková's archive, Box II, Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic.
53. An account of this exchange in Ženská rada, June 1934, a copy of this issue is in Plamínková's archive, Box I, Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic.
54. Marie Stefánová, "Světlo v Temnotách," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, p. 620.
55. Plamínková to Honzáková, dated 6 November 1938, in Box II, Plamínková's archive, Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Staré Hrady, Libáň, Czech Republic.
56. Plamínková to Hitler, dated 14 September 1938, in Ženská rada roku 1938, p. 148.
57. Zdenka Potočková, "Vzpomínka z Londýna," in Honzáková, ed., op. cit., Vol. II, p. 695.
58. Emil Hacha (1872-1945) was a conservative jurist who was elected president of the Second Czechoslovak Republic, the rump state after the Munich settlement, in November 1938. He remained in office until the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Germany in March 1939.
59. Martha Sharp Cogan, A Memoir (Boston: Beacon Press, 1990), Chapter 12, pp. 78-81.
60. Věra Bednářová, "České ženské hnutí do roku 1948," Český časopis historicitý, Vol. 89, No. 2, 1991, p. 235.
61. Plamínková to M. Sehnalová, dated 4 January 1940, in Box II, Plamínková's archive, Pamatník Národního Písemnictví, Stare Hrad, Libáň, Czech Republic.
62. Bohumil Hrabal, Inserát na dům, ve kterém již nechci bydlit (Praha: 1965), p. 55.
63. Terezin was a garrison town, built by the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century. The fortress and barracks were used as a concentration camp, while the town itself became a ghetto for Jews deported there by the Nazis. It served as a transit camp to the extermination camps in Poland. This was the camp visited by the International Red Cross in 1943 as a "model" concentration camp.
64. Dvořáková, op. cit., p. 25.
65. Honzáková, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 723.
66. See Bruce Garver, "Women in the First Czechoslovak Republic," in Sharon L. Wolchik and Alfred G. Meyer, eds, Women, State and Party in Eastern Europe (Durham: Duke University Press, 1985).