Jozef Miloslav Hurban

JM Hurban, lithograph by Eduard Kaiser , 1849

Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1849)

Plaque at the birthplace in Beckov

Hurban (second from left to right) with Štúr (left) and Hodža (right) on a statue in Trenčín

Equestrian statue of Hurban in Žilina

Jozef Miloslav Hurban (born March 19, 1817 in Beckov near Nové Mesto nad Váhom , western Slovakia , then Kingdom of Hungary ; † February 21, 1888 in Hlboké near Senica ) was a Slovak writer , journalist and politician, the first chairman of the first Slovak National Council and a of the leading figures of the Slovak uprising of 1848/49.

Life

Hurban was born in the family of the evangelical pastor Pavol Hurban and the actress Anna Hurbanová-Jurkovičová . He studied at a school in nearby Trenčín (1826–1830) and at a Protestant lyceum in Pressburg (1830–1840). Here he got to know Ľudovít Štúr . He wanted to continue his studies in Germany, but first had to work as a chaplain in Brezová pod Bradlom (1840–1843) and Protestant pastor in Hlboké (1843–1888) due to lack of money , before he received his doctorate in theology at the University of Leipzig in 1860 .

From around 1835 he participated in Slovak cultural life with Ľudovít Štúr and Michal Miloslav Hodža . In the years 1837-1840 he was a member of the secret society Vzájomnosť . At that time he still wrote exclusively in Biblical Czech, but after meeting Štúr and Hodža in Hlboké in 1843, he became a supporter of the new language standard of Štúr. This standard was also published in 1844 in the literary almanac "Nitra" published by Hurban.

In the revolutions of 1848/49 he was one of the leading figures of the Slovak uprising . On April 28, 1848, a large meeting was held in Brezová pod Bradlom , where Hurban proclaimed the Nitrianske žiadosti (Neutra requirements). Subsequently, in May, a national revolutionary program, the Žiadosti slovenského národa (Demands of the Slovak Nation), was proclaimed in Liptov-Sankt-Nikolaus , which was put to the government of Hungary.

Because of his activities, he had to flee to Bohemia to avoid an arrest warrant. There he took part in the Slavs Congress in Prague . After the suppression of the revolution, he could no longer participate in political life in the 1850s, so he only wrote on ecclesiastical issues. He only returned to politics at the end of the 1850s and participated in the drafting of the Memorandum národa slovenského ( Memorandum of the Slovak Nation ), which was sent to the Vienna Interior Ministry in 1861, and was one of the co-founders of Matica slovenská in 1863.

After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867, he was imprisoned twice for his articles against the Hungarian Nationality Law and for political activity (December 1869 – May 1870 and April – June 1876). He then tried to demonstrate Czechoslovak literary unity in further editions of the Nitra almanac (1877/78), but this was considered an outdated attempt. He died in Hlboké on February 21, 1888 .

Hurban's eldest son was Svetozár Hurban Vajanský . He was also related by marriage to Daniel Sloboda .

The southern Slovak city of Hurbanovo (previously Stará Ďala) was named in his honor in 1948.

Works (selection)

prose

• 1842 - Svadba krále velkomoravského ("Wedding of the Great Moravian King")
• 1844 - Nitra ("Neutra") - Almanac, two volumes of the first part
• 1844 - Prítomnosť a obrazy zo života tatranského ("Present and Images of Tatra Life")
• 1844 - Svätoplukovci aneb Pád říše Velkomoravské ("The Sventopluks or the decline of the Great Moravian Empire")
• 1846 - Olejkár - historical legend from the 14th century.
• 1847 - Korytnické poháriky ("Korytnica drinking glasses")
• 1847 - Od Silvestra do Troch kráľov ("From New Year's Eve to the Three Kings")
• 1851 - Nitra - Almanac, three volumes of the first part and the second part
• 1852 - Nitra (third and fourth part)
• 1851 - Nitra (fifth part)
• 1853 - Slovenskí žiaci ("Slovak apprentices")
• 1861 - Gottšalk - novel
• 1876 ​​- Nitra (sixth part)
• 1877 - Nitra (seventh part)

poetry

• 1837 - Žalospev na smrt Jana Volka
• 1842 - Písně
• 1843 - Chlebář
• 1848 - Bije zvon slobody
• 1848 - Bratia Slováci
• 1861 - Piesne nateraz

Travel reports

• 1841 - Cesta Slováka ku bratrům slovanským na Moravě av Čechách ("Journey of a Slovak to the Slavic Brothers in Moravia and Bohemia")
• 1844 - Prechádzky po považskom svete ("Walks in the Waag region")

Articles and biographies

• Čomu nás učia dejiny ("What history teaches us")
• Hlasy proti slovenčine ("Votes against Slovak")
• Slovensko a jeho život literárny ("Slovakia and its literary life")
• Náuka náboženství křesťanského ("Christian religious teaching")
• Karel Štúr , a biography
• Viliam Pauliny-Tóth a jeho doba ("Viliam Paulíny-Tóth and his time")
• Ľudovít Štúr I - IV , a biography
• Ľudovít Štúr - Rozpomienky na revolučné roky 1848/1849 ("Ľudovít Štúr - memories of the revolutionary years 1848/1849")

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Hurban, Miloslav Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1863, pp. 436–439 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Jozef Miloslav Hurban  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Jozef Miloslav Hurban (Slovak)
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