Pavol Strauss

Pavol Strauss (born August 30, 1912 in Liptovský Mikuláš , † June 3, 1994 in Nitra ) was a Slovak doctor , philosopher , prose writer , essayist and translator .

Life

While attending high school in his hometown, Strauss was actively involved in Michal Miloslav Hodža's study group . After graduating from high school, he began studying medicine in Vienna and graduated from the German University in Prague in 1938 . In 1938 and 1939 he completed the one-year general military service .

Strauss worked as a doctor in Palúdzka and Ružomberok . In 1942 he converted from the Jewish to the Catholic faith after a two-year internal struggle. Before the end of the Second World War he was interned in the transit camp in Nováky . After the liberation he continued to work, first as a surgeon in Bratislava , then between 1946 and 1956 as chief physician in Skalica and finally from 1956 to 1982 again as a surgeon in the state hospital in Nitra.

conversion

Strauss spent his childhood and academic years in the house of his grandfather, the doctor Bartolomej Kux , an educated but rather secular Jew. Even under his influence, the young Strauss began to perceive God increasingly pantheistically , which filled him with fear and insecurity. After puberty, he was gripped by doubts about the value of the world in which he saw unfair social injustice everywhere. He saw many negative qualities in several of his fellow Jews, but on the other hand, the Hasidic rabbis in Judaism were a ray of hope for him. In the last years of high school he dealt with communism , studied works by Franz Mehring , Friedrich Engels , Lenin , Georgi Plechanow and Nikolai Bukharin , was strongly influenced by surrealism by André Breton , Paul Éluard, as well as poetism and Dadaism . During his student years in Prague, he also had a wealth of cultural experiences, which, in retrospect, he only called “a plaster, a plaster for the tattered interior. An outer restlessness over the more restless sinful interior. A lack of clarity in moral questions, a longing to attract attention and a great hunger for truth, purity and security even outside of the disreputable social problems "perceived.

He later assessed this eventful phase as the first step in his turning away from Judaism towards Christianity . He described this time as a call to “exit from oneself” and “a life together with others, a life for the world, especially the world of the future”. The second phase of his conversion began during his military service in Ružomberok, where he was influenced by the family of the convert Munk.

This gave Strauss access to Catholic literature, especially the works of Peter Lippert and Romano Guardini . However, he avidly read Jacques Maritain , David Blondel , Étienne Gilson , Jean Guitton , Rainer Maria Rilke , Giovanni Papini and Henri Bergson . However, he could not completely detach himself from the thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche , André Breton and also some of the views published in the magazine "Psyché". Finally, in the third phase, he was baptized after the canon Jozef Kožár had familiarized him with the New Testament for over half a year . Under the guidance of the Jesuits Ján Dieška he took part in a retreat of the Order in part and finally had a talk with Jozef Mikuš , the then provincial of the Jesuits. He consolidated his faith by reading religious texts, especially the persecution of Jesus, about the Orthodox nun Philothea , as well as about the role of the liturgy in the life of the Catholic Church. His wife Mária, née Loydlová, was a kind of spiritual mentor at that time.

The autobiography "Kolíska dôvery", published in 1994, is generally regarded as authentic evidence of his life.

Works

In the case of titles not translated into German, the original titles are added literally in brackets.

Single issues

• The cannon on the egg, (poems) 1936.
• Black Verses, (Poems) 1937.
• Všetko je rovnako blízke i ďaleké (Kaleidoskop z cesty po Švajčiarsku) Everything is equally near and far [Kaleidoscope of a journey through Switzerland], 1946.
• Mozaika nádeje [Mosaic of Hope], Bratislava, 1948.
• Stĺpy [pillars], Ružomberok, 1948.
• Aforistické diárium [Aphoristic diary], Ružomberok, 1960.
• Krížová cesta pre chorých [ Devotion to the Cross for the Sick], Ružomberok, 1964.
• Postila dneška [Postille of today], Ružomberok, 1965.
• Zápisky diletanta [A Dilettante's Notes], Bratislava, 1968.
• Zákruty bez ciest [curves without roads], Bratislava, 1971.
• Roztrhnutá opona [The Torn Curtain], Ružomberok, 1972.
• Rekviem za živých [Requiem for the Living], Bratislava, 1991
• Nádhera nečakaného. Úsmev nad úsmevom [The glory of the unexpected. Smile over smile], (ideas and aphorisms), Bratislava, 1992.
• Kvety z popola [Flowers from the Ashes], Martin, 1992.
• Mozaika nádeje [Mosaic of Hope] (expanded edition), Bratislava, 1992.
• Ecce homo. Bratislava, 1992.
• Tesná brána [The Narrow Gate], Bratislava, 1992.
• A slovo zdúchal duch , Bratislava, 1992.
• Krížová cesta (Mozaika meditácií) [Way of the Cross (Mosaic of Meditations)], Bratislava, 1993.
• Za mostom času [Behind the Time Bridge], Košice, 1993.
• Kolíska dôvery [Cradle of Trust], Trnava, 1994.
• Odvrátený hlas. Poznámky ku všetkému ik životu [The averted voice. Notes on Everything and Life], Bratislava, 1994.
• Torzo ticha [Fragment of Silence], Bratislava, 1995.
• Život je len everyone [life is only one], Bratislava, 1996.
• Čovek pre nikoho [Man for Nobody], Bratislava, 2000.
• Sme mocnejší než čas. Apokalyptické tiene [We are stronger than time. Apocalyptic Shadows], Bratislava, 2005.

translation

• Lippert: The person Job speaks to God. 1948.

Collected Works:

• Volume 1: S výhľadom do nekonečna [With a View into Infinity], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 2: Hudba plaší smrť [Music scares away death], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 3: Rekviem za neumieranie [Requiem for not dying ], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 4: Scalpelom i perom [With scalpel and pen], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 5: Ozveny vnútorných hlasov [The echo of inner voices], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 6: Aforistické iskrenie [Aphoristic spark spraying ], Prešov, 2010.
• Volume 7: Život je provizórium [Life is only a makeshift ], Prešov, 2011.
• Volume 8: Slovenské básne [Slovak poems], Prešov, 2011.
• Volume 9: Nemecké básne [German poems], Prešov, 2011.
• Volume 10: Preklady [translations and correspondence], Prešov, 2012.

Publications about Pavol Strauss

• P. Rybák: P. Strauss - the fighting bell of this time . In: Faith and Life , 1992
• M. Bátorová: Paradoxes about Pavol Strauss , Bratislava, 2006
• Journal: Letters from Pavol Strauss, Mikuláš, 2007–2010, No. 1–9
• J. Letz: Slovak Christian Philosophy of the 20th Century. and their perspectives , Krakov / Trnava, 2010, p. 82-86, 96-98, 354.
• G. Weag: Strauss - two brothers , 2013, DVD Live AID, 65 min.

Web links

Spolok priateľov MUDr. Pavla Straussa (Association of Friends of MUDr. Pavol Strauss)