The cycle of the Czech Mint "National Heroes" is dedicated in 2018 to men who fought for the freedom of Czechoslovakia in both world wars and laid their lives on the altar of freedom. The second silver medal pays tribute to Heliodor Píka.

General Heliodor Píka always prefered the interests of the nation to his own. He always considered his military career the service of the homeland, whether it was a medical service in the Czechoslovak legions during the First World War, intelligence activity in the Balkans, or a subsequent diplomatic mission in the USSR during the Second World War. Therefore it is no wonder, that the fundamental democrat became the thorn in the eyes of the Communists after 1945 and their plans for the rule of Czechoslovakia. Already during the war, when he was promoting the Czechoslovak interests in the Soviet Union, he made it clear to the Communists that we would not become their instrument. This totalitarian regime, which came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, did not intend to tolerate and accused Heliodor Pika of treason and condemned to death. The general has accepted his unjust fate with the peace and hope that his death will bring a nation that has suffered so much, deserved reconciliation and peace. "I am convinced that if the Czechoslovak army had more of such character and dedication officers and fewer karierist and lockable figures in 1948 - our country did not have to find itself under the rule of Stalin's empire," says Czech history expert PhDr. Petr Koura, Ph.D.

The obverse side of the medal is dominated by a portrait of Heliodor Pika in a general cap that is surrounded by a dashboard whose outline resembles a rope, and the inscriptions ARMY GENERATOR HELIODOR PIKA, 1897, DIPLOMAT and PATRIOT. The general's neck is crossed by the text EXECUTED 1949. "At the bottom of the reverse side there is a linden branch placed on the proof background with insignia on the collar of the military uniform. Above it there is a free composition of the totality symbols, which means sickle and hammer which incorporates the inscription MURDER BY NAME OF THE REPUBLIC known from the book of Benčík and Richter from 2006," adds a leading medal maker.

The silver medal is placed in a special packaging in the form of a book with a professional discussion about the life of Heliodor Pika from Petr Koura's pen. You can save the whole series of medals in the collector´s box, which you can also find in the offer of the Czech Mint.