Jan Sonnevend
Orthodox church council chairman · parachutists’ helper
25 December 1880–4 September 1942
Jan Sonnevend was a lay Orthodox representative who linked the Resslova Street church with the domestic resistance. After years working in Brno, he moved to Prague in 1938 and became church council chairman. In 1942 he helped seek a refuge for the parachutists. Arrested after the church was taken, he was court-martialled and executed at Kobylisy on 4 September. His family faced further persecution.
Brno, Prague and the Orthodox community
Born in Topolany, Moravia, Sonnevend attended a commercial academy and worked in health insurance. He helped establish Brno’s Orthodox community in 1924 and supported it thereafter. Retiring, he moved to Prague with his wife Marie in 1938 and chaired the council of the Resslova Street cathedral.
A bridge between resistance and church
Sonnevend knew Jan Zelenka-Hajský and Petr Fafek through the circle assisting the parachutists. With Fafek, he connected Zelenka to chaplain Petřek. After the attack he sought a place for the soldiers to hide. Their reception in the church depended on cooperation between lay members, clergy and the domestic network.
Execution and the family’s fate
The Gestapo arrested Sonnevend and his wife on 22 June 1942. On 3 September he was sentenced at Petschek Palace with Petřek, Čikl and Gorazd; he was shot at Kobylisy the next day. Marie, their daughter Ludmila and son-in-law Josef Ryšavý were murdered in Mauthausen on 24 October. Persecution struck the whole family, not only the man who helped open the church refuge.
Explore further
- The church in Resslova Street
led the church council and helped arrange the refuge
- Vladimír Petřek
the chaplain he connected with the domestic resistance
- Jan Zelenka-Hajský
the resistance organizer whose request he brought to the church
- Petschek Palace
trial site on 3 September 1942
- Kobylisy shooting range
execution site on 4 September 1942
- Mauthausen
where his wife, daughter and son-in-law were murdered