Marie Rafajová

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Marie Rafajová (Marie Karla Rafajová) was a Czech Protestant deaconess, writer, journalist and translator who lived mostly in Slovakia. She was born on 29 November 1896 in Královo Pole (now part of Brno) and died on 11 July 1978 in Bratislava. She wrote poetry and prose in Czech and Slovak, with books like Úzkou cestou, Za stany, Údolím pokory, Zpod věčných očí and Kam. She also wrote Slovak poetry under the name Mária, including V zajatí slova, a work dedicated to Markéta Pálová. After World War I she studied social work in Prague and joined the deaconess community led by Kristína Royová in Stará Turá, taking over the community in 1936 after Royová’s death. During the Slovak National Uprising, Rafajová and her community helped the injured and hid ten Jewish children from the Gestapo. After World War II the Communist regime disbanded the community. She lived near Stará Turá with Markéta Pálová until 1964, then with her sister Karla Soudková in Bratislava. In 1991 she was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for her wartime acts. She is buried in the Brno Central Cemetery.