Gold ducat National heroes - Karel Janoušek proof
Gold ducat National heroes - Karel Janoušek proof
The product can also be purchased directly in the stores of the Czech Mint
Product description
The National Heroes series dedicates the year 2018 to personalities from the military milieu. The sixth gold ducat of the cycle commemorates the fate of Karel Janousek.
The term heroism is often associated with violent and therefore premature death. Person who has suffered a sacrifice for the national community or higher ideals is generally considered to be a hero. However, the hero could also be a man who had enjoyed a blessed age, as in the case of general Karel Janousek. Although he did not fall in the fight with the enemy, he devoted most of his life to the struggle for the freedom of his homeland whether in the ranks of the Czechoslovak legions where he fought in the battle of Zborov and passed the Siberian anabasis, in the Czechoslovak army where he decided to leave the infantry to the Air Force and to replace the comfortable staffing office for the cockpit of the aircraft or the British Royal Air Force where he enforced the creation of independent Czechoslovak warships. While the British King appreciated his activities by appointing him a Marshal, the Communist regime wanted to send him to the execution and eventually "only" sentenced him to a long imprisonment.
"The obverse side of the ducat is dominated by a portrait of Karel Janousek inspired by photographs from the peak of his military mission. The sight of the narrow eyes, used to watch the airspace, which is symbolized by the matte and shiny stripes on the background of the portrait, turns to the left, implying the fate that was prepared by postwar left-wing totalitarian regime after february," explains academic sculptor Jiri Dostal, who was the author of the ducat. The reverse side presents the silhouette of the fighter plane and a number of vertical lines evoking the bars of communist jail.
An integral part of the issue is a spectacular packaging in the form of a booklet which includes the thematic essay by the historian PhDr. Petr Koura, Ph.D.