Jan Zahradníček (17 January 1905, Mastník,

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

− 10 October 1960, Vlčatín) was a Moravian (Czech) poet, journalist and translator. He was one of the most important Czech Catholic poets of the 20th century. Because of his faith and his anti-totalitarian work, he was imprisoned as an enemy of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

after the Communist coup of 1948.

Biography

From 1919 to 1926 he studied at Třebíč gymnasium. He then studied literature and

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

at the

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in Prague. Among his teachers were the literary critic

František Xaver Šalda František () is a masculine given name of Czech origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: *Frank Daniel (František Daniel) (1926–1996), Czech film director, producer, and screenwriter ...

and the writer

Václav Tille Václav Tille (16 February 1867 in Tábor – 26 June 1937 in Prague) was a Czech writer. He also used the pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from ...

. In 1936 he moved to Uhřínov to translate and write poetry. From 1940 until 1948 he was the editor of ''Akord'' Revue in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

. In 1945, he became the editor of Brněnské tiskárny (a publishing house). In June 1951 he was arrested by the Communist secret police (

StB State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...

) and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. In 1960 he was granted amnesty due to his worsening health. He died in the same year, in an ambulance while passing through the municipality of Vlčatín. He was buried in Uhřínov. He had four children, two daughters died from

mushroom poisoning Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxic substances. Its symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mushroom toxins are secondary metabolites produced by ...

in the time of his imprisonment.

Published works

* 1930 − ''Pokušení smrti'' * 1933 − ''Jeřáby'' * 1935 − ''Žíznivé léto'' * 1937 − ''Pozdravení slunci'' * 1940 − ''Korouhve'' * 1947 − ''La Saletta'' * 1948 − ''Znamení moci'', an anti-Communist poetry collection censored by the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

;Kraszewski, Charles S. "Biblical Allusion in Jan Zahradníček's Znamení Moci." Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne Des Slavistes 33, no. 3/4 (1991): 225–42. www.jstor.org/stable/40869314, p. 225 a translation of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's '' Divina comedia'' which could not be published under Zahradníček's name. Verse books from prison ''Čtyři léta'' and ''Dům strach'' were published in exile (Canada) during the 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahradnicek, Jan 1905 births 1960 deaths People from Třebíč District 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century male writers Czech male poets Czech Catholic poets Catholic poets Czech Roman Catholics Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Czechoslovakia Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Charles University alumni