SVĚDEK POSLEDNÍHO ROZLOUČENÍ S FERDINANDEM PEROUTKOU PROMLOUVÁ. ZVUKOVÝ ZÁZNAM Z POHŘBU VELKÉHO NOVINÁŘE
A WITNESS OF THE FERDINAND PETOUTKA’S  FUNERAL SPEAKS UP. A SOUNDTRACK OF THE GREAT JOURNALIST’S LAST JOURNEY

Summary/Abstract: In 2018, the National Archives obtained a sound record from the family archives of Dr. med. Martin Jan Stránský. This record captures a part of funeral ceremony of the Czechoslovak journalist, publicist, dramatist and emigrant Ferdinand Peroutka (died April 20, 1978 in New York). The goal of our research was both to confirm the generally accepted date of Peroutka’s funeral in the United States (April, 25, 1978) that, however, varies in some copies of the original record, and to understand the content and meaning of the record that represent a torso, yet a unique and valuable testimony to the above-mentioned event, rather scarcely depicted in the literature. Therefore, the authors focus also on the Stránský family that respectfully kept the record, especially on the journalist Jan Stránský (1913–1998). Despite the fact that the sound is partially difficult to understand, it was managed to digitally transcript the record and also to uncover and reconstruct its content and to compare it to the known or otherwise captured moments relating to the Peroutka’s death and funeral in the United States. The record contains part of the requiem mass and funeral speeches of three of Peroutka’s friends: Josef Škvorecký, Jiří Voskovec and Karel Steinbach. Their speeches were, after being redacted, later published, however, this records keeps them together in their original form. The authors address also the question why these representatives of the Czechoslovak emigration were to speak at Peroutka’s funeral and what position they might have assumed among Peroutka’s friends in the exile.

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