Antonín František Slavík
Antonín František Slavík ( January 20, 1893 in Prague - October 27, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee ). He was the director of the Brno radio station, Radiojournal . He joined the Obrana národa resistance group , was arrested for this in 1939 and executed in 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee .
Life
Antonín František Slavík was the son of Antonín Slavík, a locksmith and the housewife Antonie Slavíková (nee Helclová). After graduating from high school in 1911, he began studying at the Czech Technical University in Prague . In 1914 he interrupted his studies and served in the Austrian army during the First World War and fought on the Russian front . He later served in the Czechoslovak Army and became an officer in the telegraph force. In 1920 he became the commander of the military radio station in Bratislava. In the 1920s he graduated from the School of Electrical Engineering in Brno, then went to the École supérieure d´électricité in Paris and finally studied music history and art history at the Masaryk University from 1926 to 1931, where he learned seven languages - German, French, Polish, English, Italian, Esperanto and Russian.
On June 21, 1920 he married Marie, née Šerksová. In April 1921 son Vladimir was born, in 1923 daughter Blažena (she died in 1939).
In 1925, after Slavík had returned from Paris in 1924, he began working for Radiojournal as one of the first five employees. In order to be able to devote himself to this new task better, he faked an acquired handicap, he began to limp and thus achieved his discharge from the army and from 1926 he worked full-time for the radio journal and eventually became director. He had programs made about minorities, broadcast in German for the German-speaking population of Brno, but also in Esperanto. Theatrical performances were also broadcast. Slavík wanted to convey education with his programs.
He joined the Obrana národa ( Defense of the Nation ) resistance group , which was formed in the summer of 1939. On December 14, 1939, he was arrested for this. First he was taken to the Špilberk fortress , then to the Kounicovy koleje, a building that was originally a student residence and served as a Gestapo prison and execution site since 1940 , and then to Berlin, where he was sentenced to death on June 9, 1942 and in the Plötzensee prison. Slavík's wife last saw him in May 1941 and no further visits were permitted. On October 27, 1942, the death sentence was carried out in Plötzensee.
In the 1930s, Slavík had Josef Kranz build a villa in Brno in the functionalism style. It is still owned by the Slavík family and is a listed building. In front of this villa, his last residence, Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling block for Antonín František Slavík on September 17, 2014 .
Memorials
The following memorials were erected for Antonín František Slavík:
- 1994 Unveiling of a monument in the lobby of the Czech Radio for radio staff who fell victim to the occupation.
- On September 17, 2014, Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling block in Tůmova 2086/15 in Brno . The inscription reads (here with a translation):
|
ZDE ŽIL |
|
swell
- Antonín František Slavík , biography, In: Encyclopedia of the History of the City of Brno (Czech)
- Antonín František Slavík , biography on the Czech Radio website, (Czech)
- Antonín František Slavík , article about Antonín František Slavík on the Czech Radio website, (Czech)
- Brno architecture manual , information on Villa Slavik (Czech)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oběti okupace zaměstnanců čs. rozhlasu. Internetová encyklopedie dějin Brna (Czech).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Slavík, Antonín František |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech radio journalist, resistance fighter against the Nazi regime |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1893 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 27, 1942 |
| Place of death | Berlin-Plötzensee |