What's in a Prague street name

Skálové was built in 2021.

Dagmar Šimková was born in Plzeñ in 1912. She joined a scout troop in 1934, where the other members nicknamed her Rakša.

Rakša is Raksha – the Mother wolf in The Jungle Book who raised Mowgli as her own cub. Raksha (रक्षा) is Hindi for ‘protection’.

She and her husband, Karel Skála, moved to Prague and founded a new scouting centre (which was attended by one Václav Havel). Dagmar Skálová was the leader of the girls’ troop.

After 1948, both became involved in the anti-communist resistance. In February 1949, the Prokeš coup, initiated by the retired major Květoslav Prokeš, was planned for mid-May, but the plan was revealed before it could happen, and the main plotters were arrested.

Interestingly, the main commander of the coup was meant to be Karel Kutlvašr, although he had already been in detention since December 1948. Take a look at his story on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/09/prague-4-day-29-namesti-generala-kutlvasra/ (square is in Nusle) – it’s an interesting story of riches to rags.

The insurgents were supposed to include scouts; Skálová had agreed to provide them with medical assistance and facilitate communication between them.

While under interrogation, Skálová stated that the scouts involved just thought they were taking part in a regular scheduled activity; her statement stopped most of those scouts from getting arrested. It might have saved Karel from the death penalty, too.

In August 1949, Skálová was sentenced to life imprisonment; the six main plotters were sentenced to death and were executed at Pankrác Prison in December 1949.

Dagmar and Karel were ultimately freed in 1965. While in prison, she Dagmar wrote to the UN Secretary-General to make him aware of the dire human rights situation in Czechoslovakia. By that point, the scouts were no longer autonomous, and had been absorbed into the Pioneer Organisation.

During the Prague Spring in 1968, the Scouts were revived; Karel Skála was asked to lead the Prague section, but declined, although he was involved in some scouting activities until they were absorbed into the Pioneers yet again in 1970.

Karel died in 1973, and was buried in the family grave in Plzeň. Dagmar lived to see the revival of the Scouts after the Velvet Revolution, and was awarded the Order of T. G. Masaryk in 1997.

She died in 2002, and is buried with her husband. She had been a resident of nearby Na usedlosti (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/05/prague-4-day-220-na-usedlosti/), making the decision to name this new street after her all the more appropriate.

Vinohradská 12 did an episode on her in 2024: