The last woman to be executed by Czechoslovakia, Olga Hepnarová drove a truck into a group of people in 1973 because she wanted to take revenge on society.
Archive of the Police MuseumOlga Hepnarová in an undated photograph.
One summer day in 1973, a group of elderly people stood waiting at a Prague tram stop for their morning ride when a truck suddenly came hurtling down the road. Just before 2 p.m., it swerved violently onto the pavement — and slammed straight into them. The truck was driven by 22-year-old Olga Hepnarová. And she had driven into them on purpose.
A loner who felt rejected by society, Hepnarová killed eight people and injured a dozen more. She had meticulously planned the attack in advance, and even sent letters to local newspapers about her motives, which arrived two days later. At trial, she stated she had no objection to the death penalty and, indeed, she was soon sentenced to death.
On March 12, 1975, Olga Hepnarová became the last woman to be executed in Czechoslovakia when she was just 23 years old. This is her story, which inspired the chilling 2016 film I, Olga Hepnarová.
The Troubled Early Life Of Olga Hepnarová
In Olga Hepnarová’s telling, her life was unhappy from the beginning. Born on June 30, 1951, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (today’s Czech Republic), she claimed that both her parents were abusive. As TVN24 Magazine reports, Hepnarová stated that her father beat her and that her mother dressed her in ugly clothes, to make herself more attractive. They purportedly favored Hepnarová’s sister, and Hepnarová attempted to run away from home twice.
Things were no better at school, where Hepnarová was purportedly bullied and called names by her classmates. She began skipping classes, fell behind her peers, and, around the age of 13, tried to die by suicide.
Find a GraveOlga Hepnarová, circled and seated on the far right of the first row, with her school class.
In the aftermath of her suicide attempt, Hepnarová was sent to the Children’s Psychiatric Hospital in Opařany. There, doctors noted that Hepnarová was depressive and prone to mood swings, and had antisocial tendencies.
But their diagnosis did little to help. Hepnarová’s experience in the hospital was purportedly just as torturous as her time in school. When she tried to run away, Gazeta reports that paramedics drugged her and abused her. Hepnarová also endured beatings from other patients.
Though Hepnarová was also able to explore her sexuality — TVN24 Magazine reports she had her first sexual experiences with women at the hospital — and though doctors believed that she improved during the course of her stay, Hepnarová remained troubled when she was discharged in 1966.
“I hate people,” she wrote to one of the hospital’s doctors in 1967. “I wonder how my relationship will look as time goes by. I want the people to not exist for me at all, their words and chatter are indifferent to me. That’s what I want. It’s better for me when I’m alone than when I’m with them… Everyone falls for their smiles and fellowship. They mutilated my soul.”
In the years that followed, Olga Hepnarová’s misanthropic feelings only deepened. She began to think of a way to take revenge on society.
How Olga Hepnarová Murdered Eight People
Public DomainOlga Hepnarová’s booking photo.
After leaving Opařany, Olga Hepnarová tried to return to normal life. She worked different jobs, including as a driver, and even struck up a couple of friendships. But Hepnarová was volatile and prone to sudden mood swings. Few of her jobs lasted, and her friendships often came to sudden ends.
She decided to take revenge on society. After thinking about setting off a bomb or derailing a train, Hepnarová settled on driving a car into a crowd of people. She sent letters to local newspapers explaining her motivation and, on July 10, 1973, she put her plan into action.
That afternoon, Hepnarová drove a rented truck to Prague’s Strossmayer Square. She had picked the location because the tram stop there usually drew a large crowd, because it was located at the bottom of a hill, which would allow her to gather momentum, and because it had a low curb, so that she could drive her truck more easily onto the sidewalk.
Hepnarová waited until a good number of people had gathered. Then, just before 2 p.m., she pressed on the accelerator.
“I turned onto the sidewalk, straightened the steering wheel, and then drove along the sidewalk, running over people,” Olga Hepnarová later testified. “I kept driving along the sidewalk, along the wall, until the end, that is, until I had run over all the people there and hit the bus stop post. Then the car stopped. And that was it. What more can I say?”
Czech PoliceThe aftermath of Olga Hepnarová’s attack in Prague. July 1973.
She had rammed straight into the crowd, killing three people instantly and fatally injuring five more. Others were badly injured.
“There was screaming, blood, and injured people everywhere,” Karel Skružný, a paramedic, recalled according to Radio Prague International. “The other people stood around in shock.”
Meanwhile, Hepnarová got out of the truck and lit a cigarette.
It didn’t take long for investigators to figure out her motives. Newspapers soon received Hepnarová’s letters, which read, in part:
“I am a broken person, destroyed by other people. So I have a choice: either I kill myself, or I kill others. And I have decided: I will pay my tormentors back everything. If I were to die an unknown suicide, I would make it too easy for you… I, Olga Hepnarová, victim of your bestiality, condemn you to death by being run over. I declare that these x victims are not enough for my life.”
The Last Woman Executed By Czechoslovakia
Czech PoliceThe letter that Olga Hepnarová sent to newspapers shortly before she drove a truck into a crowd of people in Prague.
There was never any doubt about Olga Hepnarová’s culpability. She admitted to the act, declared herself to be mentally healthy, and stated that she wished she had killed more people. Her attorney tried to argue that Hepnarová was insane, but she was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Though Hepnarová’s mental state deteriorated in the years that followed, her execution proceeded as planned. As she was lead to the gallows at Prague-Pankrác Prison on March 12, 1975, she purportedly expressed panic, the first emotion she had expressed since her arrest. Then, Olga Hepnarová was executed. She was 23 years old.
Her story was later made into the 2016 film, I, Olga Hepnarová, which The New York Times called “an austere, hypnotic story of sadness, madness, and murder…[and] a deeply discomfiting document.”
Today, Olga Hepnarová and her crime are not well known outside of Europe. But her story is a chilling account of how someone can feel isolated and abused by society — and how they might react in return.
After reading about rampage killer Olga Hepnarová and her gruesome attack in Prague, discover the stories of some of the most notorious female serial killers of all time. Or, learn about Lavinia Fisher, who is said to be America’s first female serial killer.
