František Křelina

František Křelina (born July 26, 1903 in Podhradí near Jičín , † October 25, 1976 in Prague ) was a Czech writer, poet, dramaturge and teacher.

Life

After graduating from the Teachers' Institute in Jičín in 1922, Křelina taught in Český Dub . After the occupation of the Sudetenland by the Germans in 1939, he went to Prague. There, together with Josef Knap and Jaroslav Durych, he prepared an appeal by Czech writers to the people, which fell victim to censorship. In 1947 he offered to teach in the newly populated border areas. He worked briefly in Žatec and returned to Prague, where he was imprisoned on August 24, 1951. This was followed by a conviction for allegedly dangerous activity as a Catholic writer to twelve years in prison. Josef Knap, Jan Zahradníček, Bedřich Fučík , Zdeňek Kalis, Ladislav Kuncíř and Ladislav Jehlička , among others, were convicted in the same show trial . On May 10, 1960, Křelina was given an amnesty. Until 1964 he worked for a construction company in Prague and began to write as a "workers reporter". In 1967 he was fully rehabilitated. At this point in time his articles were already being published in the Zemědělské noviny and Lidová demokracie .

Works

In addition to novels and books for young people, he wrote plays. His first volume of poetry was published in 1922. From 1925 to 1927 he edited the monthly magazine Sever a východ (North and East) together with Josef Knap . In 1927 his first book, Půlnoční svítání (Midnight Twilight ) was published. In 1935 Křelina Hubená léta (Lean years), a social realist novel about the impact of the global economic crisis on cottagers and laborers. In Puklý chrám (1937) he glorified village life, which is contrasted with the ruined city. In his book Dcera královská, blahoslavená Anežka česká (The Blessed King's Daughter Agnes of Bohemia), published in 1940, he described the life of Saint Agnes without reference to historical sources. Two years later, Amarú, syn hadí (Amar, son of the snake), appeared through Czech missionaries in the primeval forests of Peru at the end of the 17th century. After a lengthy writing ban, a book about the destruction of Lidice and other literary works was published in 1967 . He later wrote Catholic-oriented literature and more than 600 newspaper articles.

Awards

• 1936 State Prize of Czechoslovakia
• 1938 Monument Prize from the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts

Web links

• Literature and other media by and about František Křelina in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
• Literature by and about František Křelina in the catalog of the German National Library