What's in a Prague street name

Doudova was built in 1925.

Václav Douda was born in Podolí in 1886.

He qualified as a teacher, while also training, and acting in a management capacity, at the Podolí Sokol (guide to the Sokols on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-114-sokolska/).

In 1913, he was part of the Czech team at the 6th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which took place in Paris. The team earned a gold medal in the team competition.

A year later, World War I broke out, and Douda was drafted. After being taken prisoner on the Russian front, he joined the Czechoslovak Legions (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/12/prague-1-day-90-most-legii-legion-bridge/).

Douda was killed in 1918, a few days after his 32nd birthday, in a bayonet attack near Lake Baikal. He is commemorated in a memorial to the Podolí Sokol members in the nearby cemetery (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/18/prague-4-day-121-u-podolskeho-hrbitova/).

While in Siberia, Douda made a set of chess pieces for his comrades. They’re held in the archives of the National Museum: https://www.esbirky.cz/predmet/16531696.