P. Pokorný: Our time is borrowed time

On Monday, June 22, 2026, the Synodal Senior of the Evangelical Church, Pavel Pokorný, participated in the traditional memorial service to honor the memory of Milada Horáková at the Pankrác Detention Center. On that occasion, he delivered a speech, the full text of which we offer you:

“Dear ladies, dear gentlemen, dear fellow citizens,

one of the last letters that Milada Horáková writes from death row is addressed to her daughter Jana. The mother assures her daughter of her love and puts to her heart what she considers essential in life. Among other things, this message from her is that a person does not live alone in the world. She should “know that I am a part of everyone, and bring the best of myself to that community.” A person should educate themselves, think and distinguish good from evil. And they should refuse evil, stand against evil.

Milada Horáková sees her life as a task. Her conscience does not allow her to withdraw from the public sphere when society is threatened by lies and lack of freedom. She has had the difficult experience of a Nazi prison, and yet she does not let herself be intimidated or shy away. On the contrary. This experience strengthened her faith. She was sentenced to death by the Nazis, but the sentence was not carried out. Horáková said that it was only postponed. Postponed by God's hands. And so the time of life after the war was lent to her. She understood it as if she was receiving some extra time from God so that she would not live it only for herself.

This does not apply only to the one whose death sentence is postponed, but to each of us. Our time is a gift of time, a lent time so that we do not live it only for ourselves, but in responsibility for the human community of which we are a part.“

Pavel Pokorný

(photo: illustrative)