Vladislav Vancura
Encyclopedia
Vladislav Vančura (ˈvlaɟɪslaf ˈvantʃura) (23 June 1891, Háj
near Opava
– 1 June 1942, Prague
) was one of the most important Bohemia
n (Czech
) writers of the 20th century. He was also active as a film director
, playwright
and screenwriter
.
He was born on June 26, 1891 in Háj near Opava in Austrian Silesia
(today the Czech Republic
), of an old non-Catholic
nobility
family; his parents were Václav Vojtěch Vančura
, born 1856 in Čáslav
, Evangelical
, Director of sugar refinery in Háj and Marie Svobodová, Catholic, born 1863 in Kluky near Čáslav. In 1896, the family moved to Davle
, a beautiful place on the riverside of Vltava
, about 12 miles south of Prague, where they lived in a large country-house. Their broadminded father became the director of a complex of nearby stone pits and brickworks. In Davle, young Vladislav was educated by a home teacher (tutor) between 1898-1904. In 1905, he and his older sisters moved to Prague to study there; Vladislav entered the fifth class of Elementary School in Josefská Street.
in Prague Lesser Town
, but problems with school routine and pedantry of professors made him leave the next year. Between 1909 and 1910, he attended Royal Gymnasium in a small town of Benešov
, about 30 miles south-east of Prague. It was an old school founded in 1704 and formerly led by the Piarist Order, with severe discipline and rigid professors. Vančura hated this school immensely; on May 14, 1909, he published his first short story V aleji (In Alley) in the literary supplement of Horkého týdeník (Horký's weekly magazine).
The studies in Benešov ended in 1910 by a consilium abeundi because of his membership in a secret student club. His parents sent him to Vysoké Mýto
to be an apprentice to a bookseller Čermák. He felt depressed and dreamed of becoming a painter. In 1911, he studied the technology of photography in Prague and also began courses at Arts and Crafts School;he was unsuccessful in his attempt to enter the Royal Academy of Arts and start a career as a painter. He considered suicide because his parents wanted him to be a marine officer or soldier. Due to the illness of his mother, Vladislav returned to Davle. In 1912 he studied privately at home and completed the exams of 4th and 5th class of the gymnasium. The next year he entered Royal Gymnasium on Křemencová Street in Prague and finished the 6th class. Between 1914 and 1915 he was again a student at Prague Lesser Town Royal Gymnasium where he took the final exam on June 6, 1915.
, not far from Prague and Vladislav met 19-years old Ludmila 'Lida' Tuhá, a student of medicine. In 1917,the painter group Tvrdošíjní (Stubborns) was founded by Josef Čapek
, Jan Zrzavý
, Václav Špála
, Vlastimil Hofman, Bedřich Feuerstein
, Zdeněk Rykr and other close friends of Vladislav. He wrote about them and Josef Čapek became the congenial illustrator of his later book Rozmarné leto in 1926. Between October 1 and December 31, 1918, Vladislav practiced medicine at a hospital in Německý Brod. A few days later, on October 3, he published his small prose Ráj (Paradise) in S. K. Neumann's magazine Červen (June) and worked on a fairy-tale book Kolébka (Cradle) and on a play Iason. In 1919 Vladislav returned to Prague to continue his university studies; from 1919-1920 he published many art reviews in daily newspaper České slovo (The Czech Word).
s of medicine
and married on August 16, of the same year. In autumn, they moved to Zbraslav
, where they opened a surgical practice. In 1923, Vladislav published a book of short stories Amazonský proud (Amazon Stream). More important was his second short stories book, published in 1924, Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký (Long, Thick and Sharpsighted), containing excellent texts like Cesta do světa (Journey to the World) or F. C. Ball. The third book, Pekař Jan Marhoul (Baker Jan Marhoul), published in 1924, introduced him as a great author to the public. It is Vančura's first novel and maybe also his best - story of tragical life of a wealthy baker who is continuously declining into destitution and death despite his gentleness and goodness. The story is written with extraordinary language and a brilliant style. In 1925, Vančura published the novel Pole orná a válečná (Fields of Plough, Fields of War) and the following year the novel Rozmarné léto (Summer of Caprice), became a bestseller. It is a humorous story of three men - a colonel, a priest and a bath-keeper - during rainy summer holidays. In 1967, the book was successfully filmed as Capricious Summer
by the Czech director Jiří Menzel
who also played the role of Arnoštek in this movie. In 1928 Vančura wrote his fourth novel, Poslední soud (Last Judgement), published in 1929 and built his new white functionalistic
villa in Zbraslav designed by architect Jaromír Krejcar
, the husband of Franz Kafka
's friend, journalist and translator Milena Jesenská
.
novel
and a tract
on noetics. From the language point of view this book is a serious problem for translators because of hundreds of old proverb
s used in text; there is only one translation today - Polish
. In 1931, the novel Markéta Lazarová
(Marketa Lazarova) was published and became a bestseller. The novel was inspired by a true Middle Ages
story of the knights of the Vančura family who were in a private war with other noblemen and with the King's town Mladá Boleslav
. Vančura dedicated this book to his cousin and friend Jiří Mahen
. In 1967, the book was successfully filmed
by director František Vláčil
. In the same year (1931) Vančura also published a fairy-tale book Kubula a Kuba Kubikula (Kubula and Kuba Kubikula) that remained popular for decades. Vančura's activity continued through the next year as he published the novel Útěk do Budína (Escape to Budapest), a contemporary story of love, marriage and life of a Prague middle-class woman and a Slovak
nobleman. In 1934, two other books were published: Luk královny Dorotky (Bow of Little Queen Dorothy), a collection of short stories and Konec starých časů (End of the Old Times) a bestseller, satirical and humorous novel about the life at a Bohemian country-chateau in the first years of the republic. This book was also successfully filmed by Jiří Menzel in 1989. With the 'End of the Old Times', the time of Vančura's best books ended too. His next two books, a play Jezero Ukerewe (Ukerewe Lake) from 1935 and a socialism-influenced book Tři řeky (Three Rivers), 1936 were not successful.
annexed Austria
. Vančura's friend, playwright Otokar Fischer
died of a heart-attack when he learned about it; Vancura wrote an obituary about him to Literární listy magazine. In 1938, Rodina Horvátova (Horvat Family), a novel about life of three generations of a gentry
family was published which did not attract any reader interest, due to the political crisis. In December 1938, Vančura took part in the burial of Karel Čapek
, the famous writer and his friend, who died from psychological and health problems probably caused by the stress he experienced due to the capitulation of Czechoslovakia
.
Vančura entered the strong anti-Hitler cultural movement and started to write the book Obrazy z dějin národa českého (Pictures of the History of the Bohemian Nation); its first parts were published and then became a bestseller and symbol of resistance. On March 15, 1939, the rest of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Hitler and a week later, on May 22, Jiří Mahen
committed suicide in a protest against Nazism
.
Vančura was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
. As a response to Hitler's terror against Czechs, Vančura joined a secret communist resistance group in Autumn 1939. On May 12, 1942, at 5:00 a.m., the Gestapo
assaulted his house in Zbraslav, arrested him and tortured him in the Prague Gestapo headquarters. On May 27, 1942, a commando of the Czechoslovak Foreign Army from Britain assassinated Reinhard Heydrich
, Hitler's governor in Prague. Nazis started a wave of revenge: in the following weeks more than 2000 members of the Czech elite were executed. One of them was Vančura, executed by SS
members in the military area Prague-Kobylisy
on June 1, 1942 at 6:45 p.m.
Háj ve Slezsku
Háj ve Slezsku , meaning grove in the Silesia, is a village between Opava and Ostrava – the two larger cities in the Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic. It has 3,317 citizens: 1,704 women; 1,613 men. The town has only 972 households.-History:...
near Opava
Opava
Opava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....
– 1 June 1942, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
) was one of the most important Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n (Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
) writers of the 20th century. He was also active as a film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
Early years
Austrian Silesia
Austrian Silesia , officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire, from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
(today the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
), of an old non-Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
family; his parents were Václav Vojtěch Vančura
Vancura
Vančura is an old aristocratic family of Bohemia, Czech Republic.Its famous members are*Vladislav Vančura*Jiři Mahen *Arnošt Vančura is Bohemian and Russian composerIt may also refer to:...
, born 1856 in Čáslav
Cáslav
Čáslav is a town in eastern part of Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.- History :History of Čáslav begins after year 800 with founding of citadel and settlement called Hrádek. Near Hrádek, new town with huge square was founded by king Přemysl Otakar II in 1250...
, Evangelical
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, Director of sugar refinery in Háj and Marie Svobodová, Catholic, born 1863 in Kluky near Čáslav. In 1896, the family moved to Davle
Davle
Davle is a market town in Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. It is located more than south of Prague at the confluence of the Vltava and Sázava rivers.- History :...
, a beautiful place on the riverside of Vltava
Vltava
The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague, merging with the Elbe at Mělník...
, about 12 miles south of Prague, where they lived in a large country-house. Their broadminded father became the director of a complex of nearby stone pits and brickworks. In Davle, young Vladislav was educated by a home teacher (tutor) between 1898-1904. In 1905, he and his older sisters moved to Prague to study there; Vladislav entered the fifth class of Elementary School in Josefská Street.
First prose-works and teenage years
In 1907 Vladislav entered the Royal GymnasiumGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Prague Lesser Town
Malá Strana
Malá Strana is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic regions.The name translated into English literally means "Little Side", though it is frequently referred to as "Lesser Town", "Lesser Quarter", or "Lesser Side"...
, but problems with school routine and pedantry of professors made him leave the next year. Between 1909 and 1910, he attended Royal Gymnasium in a small town of Benešov
Benešov
Benešov is a town in the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, about southeast of Prague. The Konopiště castle and the Czech national mountain Blaník are near the town.-History:...
, about 30 miles south-east of Prague. It was an old school founded in 1704 and formerly led by the Piarist Order, with severe discipline and rigid professors. Vančura hated this school immensely; on May 14, 1909, he published his first short story V aleji (In Alley) in the literary supplement of Horkého týdeník (Horký's weekly magazine).
The studies in Benešov ended in 1910 by a consilium abeundi because of his membership in a secret student club. His parents sent him to Vysoké Mýto
Vysoké Mýto
Vysoké Mýto is a town in the Pardubice Region, Czech Republic. Founded in 1262 by the Bohemian king, Přemysl Otakar II, it is situated near its original location, called Vraclav. Vysoké Mýto is a centre of tourism, due to its architectural monuments and the nature that surrounds it. Industrial...
to be an apprentice to a bookseller Čermák. He felt depressed and dreamed of becoming a painter. In 1911, he studied the technology of photography in Prague and also began courses at Arts and Crafts School;he was unsuccessful in his attempt to enter the Royal Academy of Arts and start a career as a painter. He considered suicide because his parents wanted him to be a marine officer or soldier. Due to the illness of his mother, Vladislav returned to Davle. In 1912 he studied privately at home and completed the exams of 4th and 5th class of the gymnasium. The next year he entered Royal Gymnasium on Křemencová Street in Prague and finished the 6th class. Between 1914 and 1915 he was again a student at Prague Lesser Town Royal Gymnasium where he took the final exam on June 6, 1915.
University studies, journalism
In October 1915, Vladislav entered the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague, but this bored him. In the winter of 1916 he studied medicine at the same university; his family moved from Davle to a country manor HumburkyHumburky
Humburky is a village and municipality in the Czech Republic located on left bank of the Cidlina River about 2 km southeast of Nový Bydžov.-External links:*...
, not far from Prague and Vladislav met 19-years old Ludmila 'Lida' Tuhá, a student of medicine. In 1917,the painter group Tvrdošíjní (Stubborns) was founded by Josef Čapek
Josef Capek
Josef Čapek was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word robot, which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek.- Biography :...
, Jan Zrzavý
Jan Zrzavý
Jan Zrzavý was a leading Czech painter, graphic artist, and illustrator of the 20th century.-Biography:He was born in Okrouhlice near Německý Brod in Bohemia . He studied privately in Prague and then attended the UMPRUM there for 2 years starting in 1907, before being expelled...
, Václav Špála
Václav Špála
Václav Špála was a Czech painter, graphic designer and illustrator.He studied at Prague Academy. His work he expose with “Stubborn” group. At the beginning of his career his work was influenced by Fauvism, later by Cubism. Since 1923 he painted mainly landscapes and still-lives.Václav Špála ranks...
, Vlastimil Hofman, Bedřich Feuerstein
Bedrich Feuerstein
Bedřich Feuerstein was a Czech architect, painter and essayist.Feuerstein was born in Dobrovice and studied at the Czech Technical University under professor Jože Plečnik. Between 1924 and 1926 he worked with Auguste Perret in Paris, and between 1929 and 1931 in Tokyo, Japan with Antonín Raymond...
, Zdeněk Rykr and other close friends of Vladislav. He wrote about them and Josef Čapek became the congenial illustrator of his later book Rozmarné leto in 1926. Between October 1 and December 31, 1918, Vladislav practiced medicine at a hospital in Německý Brod. A few days later, on October 3, he published his small prose Ráj (Paradise) in S. K. Neumann's magazine Červen (June) and worked on a fairy-tale book Kolébka (Cradle) and on a play Iason. In 1919 Vladislav returned to Prague to continue his university studies; from 1919-1920 he published many art reviews in daily newspaper České slovo (The Czech Word).
1920s and great novels
On June 2, 1921, Vladislav and Lída graduated as doctorDoctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
s of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and married on August 16, of the same year. In autumn, they moved to Zbraslav
Zbraslav
Zbraslav is a municipal district and cadastral area of Prague. The southernmost district of Prague, it lies on the Vltava River in the national administrative district of Prague 16....
, where they opened a surgical practice. In 1923, Vladislav published a book of short stories Amazonský proud (Amazon Stream). More important was his second short stories book, published in 1924, Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký (Long, Thick and Sharpsighted), containing excellent texts like Cesta do světa (Journey to the World) or F. C. Ball. The third book, Pekař Jan Marhoul (Baker Jan Marhoul), published in 1924, introduced him as a great author to the public. It is Vančura's first novel and maybe also his best - story of tragical life of a wealthy baker who is continuously declining into destitution and death despite his gentleness and goodness. The story is written with extraordinary language and a brilliant style. In 1925, Vančura published the novel Pole orná a válečná (Fields of Plough, Fields of War) and the following year the novel Rozmarné léto (Summer of Caprice), became a bestseller. It is a humorous story of three men - a colonel, a priest and a bath-keeper - during rainy summer holidays. In 1967, the book was successfully filmed as Capricious Summer
Capricious Summer
Capricious Summer is a 1968 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel. It is based on the novel Rozmarné léto by the Czech writer Vladislav Vančura...
by the Czech director Jiří Menzel
Jirí Menzel
Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...
who also played the role of Arnoštek in this movie. In 1928 Vančura wrote his fourth novel, Poslední soud (Last Judgement), published in 1929 and built his new white functionalistic
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
villa in Zbraslav designed by architect Jaromír Krejcar
Jaromír Krejcar
Jaromír Krejcar was a Czech functionalistic architect, student of Jan Kotěra and member of Devětsil.He collaborated with Czech structural engineer, Dr...
, the husband of Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's friend, journalist and translator Milena Jesenská
Milena Jesenská
Milena Jesenská was a Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator, who refused to abandon her Jewish friends and was deported to and died alongside them in Ravensbrück concentration camp....
.
1930s and great novels
Vančura's fifth novel Hrdelní pře aneb Přísloví (Criminal Dispute or The Proverbs) published in 1930 in Aventinum Publishing House, Prague, was not very popular in its time; it is the most complicated of Vančura's novels, the genre of which lays between a detectiveDetective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
and a tract
Tract
Tract may refer to:* Land lot, a section of land* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census* Tract , a short written work, usually of a political or religious nature...
on noetics. From the language point of view this book is a serious problem for translators because of hundreds of old proverb
Proverb
A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
s used in text; there is only one translation today - Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. In 1931, the novel Markéta Lazarová
Marketa Lazarová (book)
Marketa Lazarová is a Czech novel, written by Vladislava Vančury. It was first published in 1931....
(Marketa Lazarova) was published and became a bestseller. The novel was inspired by a true Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
story of the knights of the Vančura family who were in a private war with other noblemen and with the King's town Mladá Boleslav
Mladá Boleslav
Mladá Boleslav is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, on the left bank of the Jizera river about 50 km northeast of Prague.Founded in the second half of the 10th century by King Boleslav II as a royal castle...
. Vančura dedicated this book to his cousin and friend Jiří Mahen
Jirí Mahen
Jiří Mahen was a Czech novelist, playwright and essayist.- Life :He was born Antonín Vančura, in Čáslav, to an old noble family of the Moravian Brethren faith. In his grammar-school years he became an anarchist. He later studied linguistics of the Czech and German languages at Prague University...
. In 1967, the book was successfully filmed
Marketa Lazarová
Marketa Lazarová is a 1967 Czechoslovak historical film directed by František Vláčil. It is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Vladislav Vančura...
by director František Vláčil
František Vlácil
František Vláčil was a Czech film director, painter, and graphic artist.Between 1945 and 1950, he studied esthetics and art history at Masaryk University in Brno. Later he worked in various groups and ateliers , but his main area became played film...
. In the same year (1931) Vančura also published a fairy-tale book Kubula a Kuba Kubikula (Kubula and Kuba Kubikula) that remained popular for decades. Vančura's activity continued through the next year as he published the novel Útěk do Budína (Escape to Budapest), a contemporary story of love, marriage and life of a Prague middle-class woman and a Slovak
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
nobleman. In 1934, two other books were published: Luk královny Dorotky (Bow of Little Queen Dorothy), a collection of short stories and Konec starých časů (End of the Old Times) a bestseller, satirical and humorous novel about the life at a Bohemian country-chateau in the first years of the republic. This book was also successfully filmed by Jiří Menzel in 1989. With the 'End of the Old Times', the time of Vančura's best books ended too. His next two books, a play Jezero Ukerewe (Ukerewe Lake) from 1935 and a socialism-influenced book Tři řeky (Three Rivers), 1936 were not successful.
1940s, political crisis and war
In March 1938, Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
annexed Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Vančura's friend, playwright Otokar Fischer
Otokar Fischer
Otokar Fischer was a Czech translator, playwright, poet and critic.He was born in Kolín, Czech Republic.He made new translations of Goethe, Shakespeare and Villon...
died of a heart-attack when he learned about it; Vancura wrote an obituary about him to Literární listy magazine. In 1938, Rodina Horvátova (Horvat Family), a novel about life of three generations of a gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
family was published which did not attract any reader interest, due to the political crisis. In December 1938, Vančura took part in the burial of Karel Čapek
Karel Capek
Karel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
, the famous writer and his friend, who died from psychological and health problems probably caused by the stress he experienced due to the capitulation of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
Vančura entered the strong anti-Hitler cultural movement and started to write the book Obrazy z dějin národa českého (Pictures of the History of the Bohemian Nation); its first parts were published and then became a bestseller and symbol of resistance. On March 15, 1939, the rest of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Hitler and a week later, on May 22, Jiří Mahen
Jirí Mahen
Jiří Mahen was a Czech novelist, playwright and essayist.- Life :He was born Antonín Vančura, in Čáslav, to an old noble family of the Moravian Brethren faith. In his grammar-school years he became an anarchist. He later studied linguistics of the Czech and German languages at Prague University...
committed suicide in a protest against Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
Vančura was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
. As a response to Hitler's terror against Czechs, Vančura joined a secret communist resistance group in Autumn 1939. On May 12, 1942, at 5:00 a.m., the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
assaulted his house in Zbraslav, arrested him and tortured him in the Prague Gestapo headquarters. On May 27, 1942, a commando of the Czechoslovak Foreign Army from Britain assassinated Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
, Hitler's governor in Prague. Nazis started a wave of revenge: in the following weeks more than 2000 members of the Czech elite were executed. One of them was Vančura, executed by SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
members in the military area Prague-Kobylisy
Kobylisy Shooting Range
Kobylisy Shooting Range is a former military shooting range located in Kobylisy, a northern suburb of Prague, Czech Republic....
on June 1, 1942 at 6:45 p.m.
External links
- Complete list of Vančura translations (English, French, Spanish, German and other translations)
- A four minutes recording of part of the Peevish Summer (in Czech languageCzech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
)