The final gold ducat of the Czech Mint's National Heroes series commemorates Karel Hašler, who paid with his life for his undisguised patriotism.

Karel Hašler came from a working-class family and trained as a glovemaker, but quickly decided to dedicate his life to art. His artistic talent was truly versatile - he became a singer, songwriter, composer, writer, actor, screenwriter, playwright and film director. Thanks to his performances in Prague cabarets, he was a much-loved star of First Republic show business, but at the same time he was a character actor at the National Theatre. He lent his restrained acting without ostentatious gestures to silent films, and in the sound era he sang on screen for a change. It was on the film set where Karel Hašler was arrested by the Gestapo. He had long provoked the Nazi occupiers with political satire and songs in which he showed his love for his country. The Prague singer-songwriter never returned from the Mauthausen concentration camp. After his leg was mutilated by a brutal guard, he was unable to start work and was tied to a stool under an ice shower as punishment. He died of torture, exhaustion and untreated illness at the age of sixty-two. But his songs live on to this day...

"The obverse side of the ducat is dominated by a portrait of Karel Hašler in a hat, with a polka-dotted tie. On the left there is the text KAREL, PRAHA 1879 followed by the text HAŠLER, UMUČEN 1941 MAUTHAUSEN (HAŠLER, MARTYRED 1941 MAUTHAUSEN) on the right," says academic sculptor Jiří Dostál. "The centre of the reverse side is filled with a part of the verse with Hašler's last message - VY ČECHY KRÁSNÉ, TY PRAHO MOJE, BUDETE ŽÍT, JÁ UMÍRÁM (BEAUTIFUL CZECH LANDS, MY PRAGUE, YOU WILL LIVE, I AM DYING). In the lower part, the text, written in free italics, touches the outline of Hradčany, which is burrowing into the score line. The composition is enclosed by four "unpleasant" segments that resemble a swastika," adds the author of the ducat.

The ducat is stored in a spectacular packaging in the form of a book, which contains a treatise from the pen of historian PhDr. Petr Koura, PhD. Remember that you can store the complete collection of fifteen ducats with nineteen national heroes in a practical collector's box.