Miroslav Kárný (9 September 1919 – 9 May 2001) was a historian and writer from

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 ...

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

Early life and education

Kárný was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His mother ran a shop selling candy and haberdashery and his father was a tradesman. After graduating from the gymnasium, Kárný studied history and

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...

at the

Charles University of Prague ) , 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 ...

from 1937 to 1939. During this time, he joined the students' communist organisation Kostufra.

Deportation

Because he was Jewish, Kárný was sent on 24 November 1941 to the

Theresienstadt ghetto Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination cam ...

, where he met his future wife, Margita Krausová (1923–1998). Both became active in the communist

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

group in Theresienstadt and collaborated with

Josef Taussig Josef (Pepek) Taussig (1 December 1914, Hlinsko – 10 March 1945, Flossenbürg concentration camp) was a Czech journalist. Taussig was a journalist with the youth magazine "Hej rup". On 5 December 1942, he was transported with his parents, Otto T ...

, Bruno Zwicker,

Valtr Eisinger Valtr Eisinger (27 May 1913 – 15 January 1945) was a Czech teacher and resistance fighter at Theresienstadt concentration camp. There, he made possible the publication of the magazine ''Vedem'' ("we lead") that consisted of poems, stories and dra ...

, Josef Stiassny and

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis Frederika "Friedl" Dicker-Brandeis (30 July 1898, in Vienna – 9 October 1944, in Auschwitz-Birkenau), was an Austrian artist and educator murdered by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Biography Frederika Dicker was born in ...

. In September 1944, they were deported to the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

in occupied Poland. From there, Kárný was deported for slave labour to the Kaufering concentration camp in Germany, a subcamp of Dachau concentration camp, Dachau. After the war, he became a journalist, then a freelance historian, specializing in the Holocaust and German fascism. He was expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) due to condemnation of his brother Jiří in the anti-Semitic Slánský trial (1952),Jiří Kárný was then working as a manager, closely with Ludvík Frejka, one of the main defendants. Frejka was hanged; Jiří received a long sentence. Se
"Miroslav Kárný (1919–2001)"
. By Raimund Kemper, p.6 . and for a second time in 1969, after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. He retired in 1973.

Publications

;Books * With Götz Aly and Susanne Heim: ''Sozialpolitik und Judenvernichtung. Gibt es eine Ökonomie der „Endlösung“?'', Rotbuch Verlag, Rotbuch 1987, * With Jaroslava Milotova and Margita Karna: ''Deutsche Politik im „Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren“ unter Reinhard Heydrich 1941–1942. Eine Dokumentation.'' Metropol Verlag, Metropol 1997, * ''Theresienstädter Gedenkbuch – die Opfer der Judentransporte aus Deutschland nach Theresienstadt 1942 – 1945.'' Institut Theresienstädter Initiative. Edited by Miroslav Kárný in Kollaboration with Alexander Blodigová. Berlin, Metropol-Verlag 2000 . Edition Theresienstädter Initiative ;Articles * "Zur Typologie des Theresienstädter Konzentrationslagers". In: ''Judaica Bohemiae.'' XVII Jg., Nr. 1, 1981, 3–14. * "Zur Statistik der jüdischen Bevölkerung im sog. Protektorat". In: ''Judaica Bohemiae.'' Nr. 2, Bd. XXII, 1986, 9–19. * "Das Schicksal der Theresienstädter Osttransporte im Sommer und Herbst 1942". In: ''Judaica Bohemiae.'' Nr. 2, Bd. XXIV, 1988, 83–97.
"Deutsche Juden in Theresienstadt"
In: ''Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente.'' 1994, 36–53. * "'Heydrichiaden'. Widerstand und Terror im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren". In: Loukia Droulia, Hagen Fleischer (Hrsg.): ''Von Lidice bis Kalavryta. Widerstand und Besatzungsterror. Studien zur Repressalienpraxis im Zweiten Weltkrieg.'' (Nationalsozialistische Besatzungspolitik in Europa 1939–1945, Band 8). Berlin 1999, .
"Sieben Monate in Kaufering"
In: ''Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente.'' 2002, 13–24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karny, Miroslav 1919 births 2001 deaths Czech Jews Writers from Prague Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Dachau concentration camp survivors Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors StB Czechoslovak historians Czechoslovak journalists