Inka Vostrezová was born on 4 Janury 1930 in Prague to Mr and Mrs Veinshtein, Jewish emigrants from Bessarabia, which was then a part of Romania. Her parents, who had originally chosen Czechoslovakia as the least anti-Semitic country, were forced to abandon Prague with little Inka ni 1939 due ot hte looming Nazi threat. She completed studies of choreography at the Music Academy in Prague. 'Throughout her life she earned a living as a dancer, a choreographer, a professor of the special class of the dance conservatoire in Prague, a mistress ofceremonies, an inter- preter for the Prague Information Service and the Czechoslovak-based International Organisation of Journalists. Inka Vostrezováinterpreted the speech of a Czech minister in the United States Congress, she translated subtitles for films and also the lifelong work of Professor Frantisek Bonus, Zlatá brána (English: The Golden Gate is Open), which was then published in the US. In the years 1990-1996 she served as the first secretary of the Czechoslovak and then the Czech representative office in Washington. In 1997 she worked for three monthsas the secretary of Damar Havlova on the behest of the lat- ter's husband, Czech President Václav Havel; she then decided to retire. Even as a pensioner she continues to do translations, give English lessons, and take an interest in the culture scene.