Jozef Cíger-Hronský (original name Jozef Cíger; born 23 February 1896 in

Zvolen Zvolen (; hu, Zólyom; german: Altsohl) is a town in central Slovakia, situated on the confluence of Hron and Slatina rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. It is surrounded by Poľana mountain from the East, by Kremnické vrchy from the West an ...

, present-day

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, died 13 July 1960 in Luján,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

) was a Slovak writer, teacher, publicist, later secretary and manager of the

Matica slovenská Matica Slovenská (en. Slovak Matica) is a Slovakia, Slovak national, Culture, cultural and scientific organization headquartered in Martin, Slovakia. It was founded in 1863 and revived in 1919. The organisation has facilities in the Slovaki ...

Life

He was born in 1896 into a central Slovak family of

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

s in Zólyom. He attended schools in Zólyom (1902–07), Korpona (1907–10) and finished his education in a Hungarian teacher school in

Léva Levice (; hu, Léva, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Lewenz, literally lionesses) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which ...

(1910–14). After that, he was a teacher at various places, with the interruption of 1917–18, when he was sent to the Italian Front in the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. His first prose came out in the 1920s (novellas and short prose). Aside of being a teacher, he was an editor of the children's magazine called ''Slniečko'' (from 1928 until 1945). In 1933 he became a secretary of the Matica slovenská and later in 1940 a manager, where he stayed until 1945. However, he fell under the influence of the

Slovak People's Party Hlinka's Slovak People's Party ( sk, Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana), also known as the Slovak People's Party (, SĽS) or the Hlinka Party, was a far-right clerico-fascist political party with a strong Catholic fundamentalist and authorit ...

(''ľudáci''). From the fear of persecution after defeat of the

First Slovak Republic First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, he emigrated to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and finally settled in Argentina, where he worked as a designer in a textile factory. There, he established the Matica slovenská Abroad (''Zahraničná Matica slovenská'') and was a chairman of the Slovak National Council abroad and an honorary chairman of the Association of Slovak Writers and Artists Abroad. He died in 1960 in Luján, Argentina. After the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

of 1989 his remains were repatriated to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and later reburied at the

National Cemetery in Martin The National Cemetery ( sk, Národný cintorín) in Martin, Slovakia is the final resting place of many important personalities of Slovak history. The list includes writers, poets, national activists, pedagogues, etc. The reason why Martin was se ...

in 1993.

Works

Hronský was writing as a realistic author, but under

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

influence. (if possible, literal English translations are given)

Prose

Drama (comedies)

*1926 - ''Firma Moor'' ("Moor Company") *1929 - ''Červený trojuholník'' ("A red triangle") *1929 - ''Návrat'' ("Comeback")

Children's literature

External links

Jozef Cíger-Hronský at Osobnosti.sk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hronsky, Jozef Ciger 1896 births 1960 deaths People from Zvolen Slovak short story writers Slovak children's writers Burials at National Cemetery in Martin Slovak schoolteachers Czechoslovak emigrants to Argentina