Milena Jesenská

Born into a prominent Prague family, Milena Jesenská was a brilliant, unconventional intellectual. Her tumultuous life included a challenging relationship with her father, two marriages, and a career that spanned journalism, editing, and translation. While famously intertwined with Franz Kafka through their intense letters, she was a significant literary figure in her own right, fearlessly addressing social and political issues of her time.

Despite the depth of her intellectual and emotional connection with Kafka, who was Jewish, Jesenská herself was not. Her family lineage was purely Czech, with no reported Jewish ancestry or ties to Jewish identity, hence the perfect zero on both counts. She lived a life of vibrant personal expression and intellectual rigor, eventually embracing Communism as a political ideal.

Her "Kvell-worthiness" shines through her courageous actions during World War II. A vocal critic of Nazism from its rise, Jesenská actively aided Jewish refugees and others escaping persecution, providing shelter and safe passage. Her unwavering moral stance and heroic efforts ultimately led to her arrest by the Gestapo and her death in Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944. A true heroine, proving you don't have to be Jewish to earn a place in the pantheon of the righteous.