Waldemar Matuška, Olga Blechová

One of his nation's best-known pop singers from the 1960s, Waldemar Matuska was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, on July 2, 1932. His peak in the music world would be matched by his work in theater and film during the same time period. Outside of his artistic endeavors, Matuska was perhaps just as well known for his decision to leave Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia in 1986 to be with his wife in Florida. Upon his departure, the powers that be decided to condemn Matuska as a "moral failure," and deleted his songs and scores from films, in addition to deleting his titles from...