Jiří Lederer

Jiří Lederer (born July 15, 1922 in Solnitz , Adlergebirge , † October 12, 1983 in Bayerisch Gmain ) was a Czech journalist, opposition activist and civil rights activist.

Live and act

Lederer studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and at the same time political science at the University of Political and Social Sciences .

From 1946, Lederer found a job as a journalist with the social democratic magazines and newspapers such as “ Právo lidu ” or “Smer” and thus became a colleague of Josef Hora and Otto Katz . When the social democratic party Česká strana sociálně democická (ČSSD) in Czechoslovakia was swallowed up by the communist party Komunistická strana Československa in 1948 , Lederer commented on this with his essay “Democracy - good bye!” The arrest he ordered was only possible when he fled to Poland escape.

There he began studying polonistics and sociology at the University of Kraków . During this course he met his future wife, later married her and had a daughter with her. His comments critical of the regime at a journalists' congress in 1951 were followed by immediate expulsion from the Czech Union of Journalists; this was dramatic in that it prohibited him from doing any kind of journalistic work.

Up until the thaw , Lederer earned a living for himself and his family as mining and factory work. He was only allowed to publish again in 1955. He became a member of the editorial team of the magazine “Večerni Praha” ( tabloid ). When he reviewed Josef Škvorecký's novel “Zbabělci” (Coward) very positively, he fell out of favor and became unemployed.

Between 1959 and 1962, Lederer was editor of the “Technicke noviny” magazine and then switched to Radio Praha until 1967 . Then he was allowed to write again without restriction. In 1963 he was allowed to study in Poland and in 1967 he was honored by the Polish Association of Journalists.

During the 1960s, Lederer became an important contributor to literary magazines such as Literární noviny , Literární listy and the like. a. In 1972 Lederer was charged with denigrating a socialist state and its representatives and sentenced to two years in prison.

At the end of 1976, Lederer was one of the initiators of Charter 77 . When this was published in January 1977, Lederer was among the first to be arrested. The charge was subversive activity . In January 1980 he was released from prison and on September 1 of the same year he was deported to the Federal Republic of Germany together with his wife Elzbieta and daughter Monika. In the same month, Lederer received the research contract for human rights in Eastern Europe from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation . In addition, Lederer occasionally worked for Deutschlandfunk and Sender Free Europe .

At the end of July 1983, Lederer suffered a heart attack . He died as a result of the consequences on October 12, 1983 in Bayerisch Gmain and found his final resting place there.

Works (selection)

• Jan Palach. A biographical report . Unionsverlag, Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-293-00037-1 .
• My Poland is alive. Two centuries of struggle against foreign rule (“Mé Polsko”). Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-7663-0487-9 .
• Czech talks. Writers answer (“Českérozhovory”). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1979, ISBN 3-498-03820-6 (together with Ludvik Vaculík ).

literature

• Jarmila Cysařová: Muž, který tu chybí. Český novinář Jiří Lederer (1922-1983) . Radioservis, Prague 2006, ISBN 80-86-21250-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Jiří Lederer in the catalog of the German National Library