Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz (born Markéta Götzová; 15 February 1927 – 6 November 2022) was a Canadian scholar and translator, best-known for her work on Czech literature. Born to a

German Bohemian German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part o ...

mother and a

Czech-Jewish The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, which include the modern Czech Republic as well as Bohemia, Czech Silesia and Moravia, goes back many centuries. There is evidence that Jews have lived in Moravia and Bohemia since as early as the 10 ...

father, she won the 1988 Ordo Scriptores Bohemici prize, 2000

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of M ...

, and 2016 George Theiner Prize.

Radio Prague Radio Prague International ( cs, Český rozhlas 7 – Radio Praha) is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on August 31, 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in ...

International described her as

Life

Markéta Götzová was born in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

. From 1935 to 1948, she lived in Místek where she studied at a German School. Her father was Jewish and survived

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

. In 1948, her family emigrated to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. She studied

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and graduated from

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the 19th century German novelist

Wilhelm Raabe Wilhelm Raabe (; September 8, 1831November 15, 1910) was a German novelist. His early works were published under the pseudonym of Jakob Corvinus. Biography He was born in Eschershausen (then in the Duchy of Brunswick, now in the Holzminden Distr ...

. From 1959, she taught German literature at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, and was best known for her scholarship on

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

and dissident writers such as

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

. In 1965, she married Polish-born political scientist Władysław Stankiewicz. From 1973 to 1989, she travelled annually to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, and met many Czech writers, promoting their work in the west. She retired in 1992 but continued writing and speaking at conferences. She died at her home in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

on 6 November 2022, aged 96.

Works

* Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz (ed) ''The Vanĕk Plays: Four Authors, One Character.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. * ''Good-Bye Samizdat: Twenty Years of Czechoslovak Underground Writing,'' Northwestern University Press, 1992.

References

External links

Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz
Detailed biography at Memory of Nations
Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz: of unknown origin in a strange wood without leaves
interview with David Vaughn of

International, September 24, 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goetz-Stankiewicz, Marketa 1927 births 2022 deaths People from Liberec Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Canadian women historians Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) People of Sudeten German descent People of Czech-Jewish descent University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Canadian women literary critics Scholars of German literature Slavists Czech literary historians 20th-century Canadian women writers Writers from Toronto Writers from Vancouver Literary critics of German