Karel Poláček

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Karel Poláček, bust in Rychnov nad Kněžnou

Karel Poláček (born March 22, 1892 in Rychnov nad Kněžnou , Austria-Hungary , † January 21, 1945 in Gliwice ) was a Czech writer and journalist .

Life

Poláček was the son of Jewish merchants. He first attended high school in Rychnov, but moved to Prague a short time later because of his poor academic performance . In 1912 he graduated from high school and worked as an employee. During the First World War he fought in Serbia until he was captured. After his return he started working for the Czechoslovakian Export and Import Commission as a journalist for the magazines Tribuna and Nebojsa . He was fired by his employer after he ridiculed the commission in his story Karussell (Kolotoč). He joined the liberal-democratic circle around the writers Ferdinand Peroutka and the brothers Karel and Josef Čapek . In the second half of the 1920s, Poláček was a participant in the meetings of the informal regulars' table group Prague intellectual Pátečníci .

From 1922 to 1939 he wrote as a court reporter and essayist for the newspaper Lidové noviny , from which he was dismissed in 1939 because of his Jewish origin. He then began to work in the Jewish community. In 1943 Poláček was arrested and taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp , from which he was then transferred to a satellite camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp . Until the 1990s it was assumed that Poláček perished in the gas chamber in October 1944. Witnesses who saw Poláček in January 1945 in the subcamp in Hindenburg only came forward after 1990 . He is said to have written a play there that was performed by camp inmates. He was transported from Hindenburg to Gleiwitz together with other prisoners, but it is unclear whether he died on the way or in Gleiwitz. The date of death is based on the fact that the last witness saw him on January 19, 1945 and that selections were held in Gleiwitz two days later.

A memorial for Karel Poláček was established in the former synagogue in Rychnov nad Kněžnou.

Works

Karel Poláček Edudant a Francimor Title 1933.jpg

Poláček was one of the most important Czech humorists who portrayed small, simple people with all their weaknesses.

Novels and short stories

  • Povídky pana Kočkodana , 1922
  • Mariáš a jiné živnosti , 1924
  • 35 sloupků , 1925
  • Lehká dívka a reportér , 1926
  • Povídky izraelského vyznání , 1926
  • Bez místa , 1928
  • Dům na předměstí , 1928 (The house in the suburbs - a policeman buys a house in the city and terrorizes his tenants. In this book Polacek shows that people are themselves the greatest danger).
    • The house in the suburbs . Translation Eliška Glaserová. Prague: Artia, 1958
  • Muži v ofsajdu , 1931 (Men on the sidelines - the action takes place in the vicinity of the Prague soccer teams Slavia Prague and Viktoria Žižkov).
    • Offside: From the life of football fans. Novel . Translation by Herta Soswinski. Rosenheim: Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, 1971
  • Hráči , 1931
  • Hlavní přelíčení , 1932
  • Okresní město , 1936 (The district town - the most extensive novel by Polacek. In this book he characterizes different social classes in a small town before the First World War. He characterizes the people with their disguises, deviousness and falsehood. He uses this especially among the higher classes Instrument of irony and caricature).
    • The district town . Translation of Anna Wagenknecht. With 62 pen drawings. by Eva Johanna Rubin. Berlin: Rütten & Loening, 1956
    • The district town: Roman . Translation Antonín Brousek. Ditzingen: Reclam, 2018 ISBN 978-3-15-011183-3
  • Hrdinové táhnou do buje , 1936
  • Povídky izraelského vyznání , 1926
  • Podzemní město , 1937
  • Deník se žlutou hvězdou
  • Hedvika a Ludvík a jiné povídky
  • Vyprodáno , 1939
  • Hostinec U kamenného stolu , 1941
  • Michelup a motocyclic
  • Bylo nás pět , 1946 (We were five - Appeared after his death. The story of five little boys from a village, depicting the problems of the small town from the perspective of a child.)
    • The five of us and Jumbo . Afterword by Eckhard Thiele. Translation by Markus Wirz. Munich: DVA, 2001 ISBN 978-3-421-05239-1
  • Ves Stepančikovo
    • Stepantschikowo Manor , comedy in 11 pictures based on Dostoevsky by Emil František Burian and Karel Poláček. Translation of Rolf Schneider. Vienna: Universal Edition, 1969

Scripts

  • Muži v offsidu
  • Obrácení Ferdyše Pištory
  • Dům na předměstí

Children's books

  • Edudant a Francimor , 1933
    • Edudant and Franzimor . Translation of Lotte Elsnerová. Illustrations by Josef Čapek . Prague: Artia, 1966

Specialist literature

  • Život ve filmu , 1927 (essays)
  • Žurnalistický slovník , 1934
  • Metempsychóza čili stěhování duší , 1936
  • Ze soudní síně , 1956

Collective works

  • Židovské anekdoty (Collection of Jewish Jokes)
  • Soudničky , 1999
  • O humoru v životě av umění , 1928
  • Lidé před soudem, 1938 fejetony, sloupky, eseje
  • Doctor Munory a jiní lidé , 1935-1939

literature

Web links

Commons : Karel Poláček  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The previously given date of death October 19, 1944 was later corrected, s. the online encyclopedia kdo byl kdo (Karel Poláček) and the entry in the database of the Czech National Library
  2. ↑ Václav Stehlík: Stari Friday Men Novodobí a Zpátečníci! , online at: vasevec.parlamentnilisty.cz / ...
  3. ↑ Alena Hájková: knížka o Karlu Poláčkovi . Academia, Praha 1999, ISBN 80-200-0739-3 .
personal data
SURNAME Poláček, Karel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polacek, Karel; Kočkodan (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichenau an der Knieschna
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1945
Place of death Gliwice