Jan Zahradníček (1905–60): The Tragedy of a Poet and Prisoner of the Communist Regime
Jan Zahradníček (1905–60): The Tragedy of a Poet and Prisoner of the Communist Regime
Author(s): Jiří HanušSubject(s): History, Oral history, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today)
Published by: Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Czech Catholicism; twentieth century; imprisoned writers; religious faith;
Summary/Abstract: The article deals with an outstanding Czech poet Jan Zahradníček (1905–60), who was arrested in 1951 and sentenced for 13 years of prison in a show trial. He was released during the general amnesty in 1960 and died in the same year. His tragic fate is depicted in several collections of poems written in prisons (Pankrác, Brno, Mírov, Leopoldov). The collections were saved and published and his poetic diary was found in Leopoldov prison 55 years after his death. Zahradníček’s poems in combination with the memories of contemporary witnesses and published interpretations of his work (Zdeněk Rotrekl, Rio Preisner, Radovan Zejda, Martin Putna) allow an exceptional view of the inner life of a person who was unjustly imprisoned in the times of communist purges in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s.
Journal: Acta Poloniae Historica
- Issue Year: 2018
- Issue No: 118
- Page Range: 127-150
- Page Count: 24
- Language: English