The Friday Men ( cs, Pátečníci, german: Die Freitagsrunde) were a Czech intellectual and political circle that met in the garden of

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

house on Friday afternoons from 1921 till Čapek's death in 1938. The group also sometimes met in

Café Slavia Café Slavia is a café in Prague, Czech Republic, located on the corner of Národní street and Smetanovo nábřeží, next to the Vltava river and opposite the National Theatre. It was opened in August 1884. Poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke ...

. A cartoon by

Adolf Hoffmeister Adolf Hoffmeister (15 August 1902 – 24 July 1973) was a Czechoslovak illustrator, caricaturist, painter, writer, poet, journalist, politician, diplomat and traveler. Life and career Early life He was born in Prague, to the family of a Pr ...

shows in the first row

Ferdinand Peroutka Ferdinand Peroutka (6 February 1895 – 20 April 1978) was a Czech journalist and writer. A prominent political thinker and journalist during the First Czechoslovak Republic, Peroutka was persecuted by the Nazi regime for his democratic convict ...

, , editor of the ''

Prager Presse The ''Prager Presse'' (Prague press) was a German newspaper published in the Czechoslovak Republic from March 1921 to 1939. History The newspaper Prager Presse was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk with the aim of integrating the German-speaki ...

Arne Laurin Arne Laurin (real name Arnošt Lustig; 1889 in Hrnčíře village, Praha-Šeberov, Prague – 17 February 1945 in New York City) was a Czech-Jewish journalist. He was editor of the Prager Presse and one of Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 J ...

, then in the second row: Karl Kraus, František Langer, Karel Čapek, theatre critic Josef Kodíček, , and then in the third row

Josef Čapek Josef Čapek (; 23 March 1887 – April 1945) was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word "robot", which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek. ...

Vladislav Vančura Vladislav Vančura () (23 June 1891 in Háj ve Slezsku – 1 June 1942 in Prague) was an important Czech writer active in the 20th century, who was murdered by the Nazis. He was also active as a film director, playwright and screenwriter. Early ...

Tomáš Masaryk Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 185014 September 1937) was a Czechoslovak politician, statesman, sociologist, and philosopher. Until 1914, he advocated restructuring the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a federal state. With the help of ...

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

, Karel Poláček, and finally in the fourth row journalist František Kubka, Josef Kopta, Dr. L. Procházka, Vilem Mathesius, and historian . No women attended.Andrea Orzoff ''Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe, 1914-1948'' Stanford University. Dept. of History 2009 p89 Adolf Hoffmeister's cartoon of the Friday Men. p90 "Other journalistic members included Prager Presse chief editor Arne Laurin and reporter František Kubka; Josef Kodícek, Tribuna drama critic and theater director; and friendly reporters from hostile papers, such as Národní listy's Karel ..." Čapek's wife Olga Scheinpflugová attempted to revive the meetings after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Among post-war participants were

Hugo Haas Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962. Life and career Haas was born in B ...

Jaroslav Seifert Jaroslav Seifert (; 23 September 1901 – 10 January 1986) was a Czech writer, poet and journalist. Seifert was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides ...

, František Langer and Vlado Clementis.

References

{{reflist Debating societies