Jiří Hanzelka

Jiří Hanzelka (born December 24, 1920 in Štramberk , † February 15, 2003 in Prague ) was a Czech travel book author .

Life

Jiří Hanzelka studied at the commercial college and after 1938 at the business college. Since the universities were closed by the German occupation during the Second World War (see special campaign in Prague ), he could not finish his studies until 1946. It was there that he met his future fellow traveler and co-author Miroslav Zikmund .

From 1947 to 1950 they made a trip through Africa , South America and Central America in the Czech streamlined car Tatra 87 . Over 700 radio reports were broadcast about the trip. There were also numerous photos and a large amount of film material.

The second trip from 1959 to 1964 was again accompanied by Tatras (this time with two Tatra 805 expedition trucks). They crossed Asia and Oceania . In 1968 Hanzelka supported the reform communists . After the Soviet troops and those of other Warsaw Pact states occupied Czechoslovakia and the freedom movement was suppressed, he was banned from further publications and participation in public life from 1969. Hanzelka did not give in to this, but signed Charter 77 .

Fonts

All books were written together with Miroslav Zikmund and only describe the trips made.

Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund described their trip to Latin America from June 1948 to September 1950 in four extensive volumes:

• South America , Part 1: Between Paraná and Rio de la Plata via her travels through Argentina , Uruguay , Paraguay and the south of Brazil (June 1948 to June 1949).
• South America , part 2: Across the Cordilleras over their journey from Río Cuarto to Lima , via Mendoza , Catamarca , Tucumán , Jujuy , Humahuaca , La Quiaca , Villazón , Potosí , Oruro , Cochabamba , La Paz , Cuzco and La Oroya, with an excursion to the Chincha Islands (June 1949 to November 1949).
• South America , part 3: Among the headhunters on their journey from Lima via Guayaquil to Quito , with an excursion to the part of Amazonia belonging to Ecuador, in particular through the Shuar area (December 1949 to February 1950).
• Central America. Between 2 oceans on her journey from Quito through Central America to Veracruz (March to September 1950).

The work Special Message No. 4 (Zvláštní zpráva č. 4), written in 1964 on the basis of the previous trip to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev , was only received by members of the government. Because of the description of the Soviet economic situation, it was classified as top secret and was not published until 1990.

The books Ceylon, a kingdom without angels (Cejlon, ráj bez andělů 1991) and Sumatra, hope without outlines (Sumatra, naděje bez obrysů 1991) were banned and were self-published. They are also the authors of numerous newspaper and magazine articles.

A permanent exhibition is dedicated to the travels of Zikmund and Hanzelka in the Southeast Moravian Museum in Zlín .

Movies

• Africa I.
• Africa II.
• From Argentina to Mexico (Z Argentiny do Mexika)
• If there was a paradise in the world (Je-li kde ne světě ráj)

There are also 174 documentaries, shorts and television films.

Books translated into German

• Africa, Dream and Reality (Afrika snů a skutečnosti). 3 volumes. Publishing house Volk und Welt (1954)
  • Selection in one volume: Africa, dream and reality . Verlag Volk und Welt (1961)
• South America trilogy
  • Between Paraná and Río de la Plata (Tam za řekou je Argentina). Publishing house Volk und Welt (1956)
  • About the Cordilleras (Pres Kordillery). Verlag Volk und Welt (1957)
  • Among the headhunters (Za lovci lebek). Publishing house Volk und Welt (1958)
• Central America - Between two oceans (Mezi dvema oceány). Verlag Volk und Welt (1959)
• Balkans and Asia Minor - The Inverted Crescent (Obrácený půlměsíc). Publishing house Volk und Welt (1962)

Web links

• Literature by and about Jiří Hanzelka in the catalog of the German National Library
• Hanzelka and Zikmund in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Werner Pöschko: Around the world in the Tatra T87. The thirst for adventure of two Czechs. Co-production by SWR / DLR Kultur and ORF . In: Hörbilder ( Ö1 ), July 3, 2009.
• Werner Pöschko: "Tatras". On the move with the T87. In: Hörbilder, November 20, 2010. (Repeat from 2009 with additional accompanying text.)