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Music by Myuu -https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji
Music by Kevin Macleod - https://incompetech.com
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Music by CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZB4l43iTw&t=105s
Music by Myuu -https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji
Music by Kevin Macleod - https://incompetech.com
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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NewsTranscript
00:07Hello everyone, today we are going back to early 1970s Czechoslovakia to look at the case of Olga
00:16Hetnorova. Olga was born on the 30th of June 1951 in Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia.
00:29Czechoslovakia was a relatively young country at the time of her birth. It became a sovereign state in October 1918
00:37when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
00:43The country became a member of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and was part of what was known as the
00:50Eastern Bloc.
00:50She was born into a middle class family. Her father was a bank clerk and her mother was a dentist.
00:58When she was a young girl, she seemed to do quite well at school, but as she grew older she
01:03found it hard to communicate with her parents and her classmates. Later she claimed that she could hardly approach people
01:11and that the world was her enemy.
01:13In 1964, at the age of 13, she took an overdose of 10 tablets of Meprobramate, which is a mild
01:22tranquilizer. Her sister found her unconscious and bleeding and on informing her parents she was taken to hospital.
01:31Here she was placed in the hospital. Here she was placed in a psychiatric unit and doctors observed her and
01:37carried out various tests to establish her mental state.
01:40They noticed that Olga had a nicotine addiction and she was very apathetic. One wrote that she suffered from schizophrenia.
01:50She stayed under the hospital supervision for one year, telling doctors that she was unable to talk to her parents
01:57and that her father beat her.
01:59She said that all the adult members of her family were unkind to her and that she found it difficult
02:06to have any sort of relationship with her older sister. She told doctors that her family had crippled her soul.
02:13As Olga got older, her psychological issues continued, so she started staying home instead of attending school.
02:22There was limited help for people with these types of problems in Czechoslovakia in the 60s and 70s.
02:29When Olga reached the age of leaving school, she was expected to do her duty as a good citizen and
02:36get a job.
02:37She did find work but found it difficult to keep a job for any length of time.
02:42The various places she worked would usually let her go within a few days. After a while, she started working
02:49as a truck driver.
02:52Olga was clearly lonely, depressed and isolated. She was desperately in need of someone who could understand her.
03:00But sadly, she could not connect with anybody. She soon started hating the world.
03:06She became obsessed by feelings of hatred for both her family and society. Her psychological issues started to increase, which
03:16started to fuel an intense hatred of humanity.
03:19As Olga's condition got progressively worse, she started to have thoughts of taking revenge upon the world that had in
03:27her mind treated her so badly.
03:29She did not want to take out her revenge without explaining her actions and her motives behind why she was
03:37doing it.
03:38So she decided to write two letters and send them to two different newspapers stating her intentions.
03:44On the 7th of June 1973, she sent the letters. One of them read,
03:52I am a loner, a destroyed woman, a woman destroyed by people. I have a choice, to kill myself or
04:00to kill others.
04:01My verdict is I, Olga Hepner-Over, the victim of your bestiality, sentence you to death.
04:10Due to the slowness of the postal system, these letters did not arrive until two days after the crime.
04:20The 10th of July 1973 was a Tuesday, a summer day in Prague, pretty similar to any other day.
04:28The weather was pleasant, cloudy but warm and everyone went about their daily business.
04:35The young 22-year-old Olga went to a rental company to rent a truck.
04:41The assistant asked her to go on a test run to prove she could drive and she passed without any
04:48problem.
04:49The assistant checked over the vehicle and gave Olga the truck.
04:53It was a Prager RN, which was a medium-sized truck, manufactured in Czechoslovakia.
05:00She paid the assistant 260 crowns for the rental truck and drove it out of the parking lot.
05:06It was now just after 10 o'clock in the morning.
05:10Little did the assistant know that the girl he had rented the truck to was just about to take her
05:16revenge on the world.
05:17Olga drove to the Prague 7 district.
05:21Her plan was to drive the truck and ram it into people waiting at a busy Prague tram stop.
05:27She decided that the best place to do it should be Stronsmayer Square.
05:32She drove a little until she found a tram stop at the bottom of a slope.
05:36This was perfect as the truck would speed up down the slope and she would be able to cause maximum
05:44damage.
05:45This was how she planned to revenge society.
05:48The moment arrived.
05:50Olga drove the truck down the slope, picking up speed.
05:54But instead of ramming the truck into her victims as she had planned, she just continued driving.
06:01A change of heart perhaps?
06:04No.
06:05This was not due to a sudden change of plan.
06:07It was because she felt that the number of people standing at the tram stop were too few and she
06:14wanted to cause the maximum damage.
06:17Olga drove around and went back to the top of the slope.
06:21She looked down and saw that now there were many more people at the tram stop.
06:25This was it.
06:26Her moment.
06:27She drove the truck picking up speed as she went towards the innocent people who were all minding their own
06:33business on a summer's day in Prague.
06:35This time she rammed the truck into the people standing on the pavement who had no idea of the impending
06:42danger.
06:43Her truck collided with 25 people.
06:47Three of the victims died immediately.
06:49Three more died later the same day and two more succumbed to their injuries a few days later.
06:56Six others were badly injured and six more people suffered minor wounds.
07:02Most of the victims were between 60 and 79 years old.
07:06After this horrible act, Olga's truck stalled.
07:11She did not try to escape or move from her seat.
07:14She waited for the police to come and arrest her.
07:17The police asked her what had happened.
07:19Had she fallen asleep?
07:21Had her brakes failed?
07:23They were shocked when she told them,
07:25No, it was my intention to do this.
07:30She was arrested and taken to the police station,
07:33where she told detectives that it was her intention to kill as many people as possible.
07:39She expressed no regret for her actions.
07:42In her statement she said,
07:44There were no trams, no cars.
07:47Nothing was in my way.
07:49I said to myself that this was the right time to do it.
07:53I drove on the pavement, went on and ran into a crowd of people, knocking them down.
08:00Olga was held in Prague's Pankrak prison.
08:02In the 1960s, Czechoslovakia had become the first country of the Eastern Bloc
08:09to accept the United Nations standard minimum rules for prisons.
08:14This meant the introduction of specialists.
08:17And for Olga, it would mean that she was examined by prison psychologists
08:21to assess her mental state.
08:24After extensive examinations, the psychologists concluded
08:28that at the time of her crime, she was fully aware of her actions.
08:33And it was declared that she was not suffering from any mental illness.
08:37This was different to one of the doctors who examined her when she was 13,
08:41as he had diagnosed that she suffered from schizophrenia.
08:48She came to trial in 1974 at the Municipal Court in Prague.
08:53She was represented by an experienced lawyer, but Olga refused to cooperate with him.
09:00He insisted that she was suffering from schizophrenia and had much evidence to support his claim.
09:06His evidence went back to when she had first been diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 13.
09:12He had documents of her claims and the false interpretations of other people's attitude towards her,
09:18and her own feelings of injustice and hatred, and the growing urgency and desire for revenge.
09:24In 1967, when she was less than 16 years old, she had written,
09:30I hate people, and followed this by presenting all the reasons and explanations as to why she felt this way.
09:38But Olga would not listen to him, and she informed the court that she was sane,
09:43and said that she had no regrets for what she had done.
09:46She tried to make a speech blaming her actions on society.
09:50She said in court,
09:51If the society destroys individuals, individuals can destroy the society.
09:57I wanted to take my revenge on the society, including my family, because they are my enemy.
10:04Knowing that I managed to do it, I felt a kind of release and satisfaction.
10:09She said that she had considered committing her crime in the famous Wensley Square,
10:15but dismissed it as a target,
10:18because the truck would have attracted too much attention before she could carry out her crime.
10:23On the 6th of April, 1974, she was found guilty on all eight counts of murder,
10:30and sentenced to death by hanging.
10:34Her mother initiated an appeal to the Czech Supreme Court,
10:38but this was rejected, and the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on March 3, 1975.
10:46The gravity of her crime was such,
10:48but even the Czechoslovakian Prime Minister declined clemency in her case,
10:54refusing her mother's plea for mercy.
10:56The execution date was fixed for March 12.
11:01Interviewed in prison, Olga told reporters,
11:04I am not afraid of the death sentence.
11:07I do accept it.
11:09On the 12th of March, 1975,
11:12the prison guard unlocked her cell door, and entered Olga's cell.
11:16He secured her hands behind her back,
11:19and told her that it was time to leave,
11:22to walk down the corridor,
11:24so final sentence could be carried out.
11:27Olga slumped to the ground.
11:29She started to scream and cry.
11:31When death faced her, the young woman,
11:34who had told the court and the reporters,
11:36that she was ready to face the consequences of her crime.
11:40She was, in fact, extremely scared,
11:43and she became hysterical,
11:45and had to be physically taken to the gallows.
11:48Shortly after pleading for her life,
11:50Olga was hanged in Pankrac Prison, Prague.
11:53She was 23 years, 8 months, and 10 days old,
11:58when she died,
11:59and was the last woman to be executed in Czechoslovakia.
12:03A film based on her life,
12:05named I, Olga Hepnerova,
12:08was released in 2016,
12:10and was screened at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.
12:17Hello everyone,
12:18and thank you so much for listening to this sad and tragic case.
12:22As usual, please leave any comments you may have,
12:26and I will see you in the next brief case.
12:31See you in the last book,
12:31and we'll see you in the next book.
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