Ota Pavel (born Otto Popper) (2 July 1930, in

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 ...

– 31 March 1973, in Prague) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

writer, journalist and sport reporter. He is primarily an author of autobiographical and

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fict ...

Biography

He was born in Prague as the third and youngest son of a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish father, Leo Popper, who was a travelling salesman, and a Czech Christian mother.Weizmann, Kobi (2015).
Yedies fun varshe: Der yidisher teater shpilt Ota Pavels verk
" ews from Warsaw: The Jewish Theater produces Ota Pavel's work. ''Forverts'' (The YIddish Forward). Published online October 1, 2015; in print, October 30, 2015. Online version retrieved 2015-10-03. The family celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays. During

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 ...

, his father and both his older brothers were imprisoned in

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

s (his brother Jiří was imprisoned in

Mauthausen Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regu ...

). Otto remained with their mother, in

Buštěhrad Buštěhrad () is a town in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,700 inhabitants. Etymology The settlement was originally named Buščeves, which was derived from ''Buškova ves'' (i.e. "Bušek's vi ...

. Young Otto briefly worked as a miner in the

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

Region. Both brothers and father survived Nazi imprisonment and returned home after the end of the World War. In 1960 Otto graduated at the ''Střední škola pro pracující'' (High School for Workers). He was an enthusiastic

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

player and played on the junior team of

HC Sparta Praha Hockey Club Sparta Praha, commonly known as HC Sparta Prague, is a Prague-based Czech ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The club has won four Czech championships (most recently in 2007) and four Czechoslovak championships, as w ...

, but his hopes for a professional ice-hockey career were dashed by a serious illness and

tonsillectomy Tonsillectomy is a list of surgical procedures, surgical procedure in which both palatine tonsils are fully removed from the back of the throat. The procedure is mainly performed for recurrent tonsillitis, throat infections and obstructive sleep ...

. He stayed on with Sparta for a short time to train its junior team. In 1949 his close friend

Arnošt Lustig Arnošt Lustig (; 21 December 1926 – 26 February 2011) was a renowned Czech Jewish author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays whose works have often involved the Holocaust. Life and work Lustig was born in Prague. As a Jewish boy ...

recommended him to concentrate on writing, and as a result, Popper was engaged as a sports reporter by Czechoslovak Radio. In 1955 he changed his name to Ota Pavel. From 1956 to 1957 he was a sports reporter for the journal ''Stadion'' (Stadium), then contributed for a few years to the army journal ''Československý voják'' (Czechoslovak Soldier). His first literary attempts (mainly short sport-related

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art critici ...

s) were published in ''Stadion''. His work as a journalist took him to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He was also allowed to travel to Western countries, including France and Switzerland. In 1962 he visited the United States with the Czech football team

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czechoslovakia, Czech association football, football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in ...

. During the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

in Innsbruck he showed signs of the mental illness that would later end his official journalistic career. He later described the episode in his book "Jak jsem potkal ryby"'':

''"I went mad at the winter Olympics in Innsbruck. My brain got cloudy, as if a fog from the Alps had enveloped it. In that condition I came face to face with one gentleman - the Devil. He looked the part! He had hooves, fur, horns, and rotten teeth that looked hundreds of years old. With this figure in my mind I climbed the hills above Innsbruck and torched a farm building. I was convinced that only a brilliant bonfire could burn off that fog. As I was leading the cows and horses from the barn, the Austrian police arrived..."''

Following this he was diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. In 1966 the effects of this disease led to his retirement and thereafter several admissions to mental hospitals for treatment. This difficult period in his life was also his most creative, in which he produced his strongest and most lyrical collections, including ''How I Came to Know Fish''. Ota Pavel's work was focused on sports, especially fishing. Some of his works were adapted for the film: ''Zlatí úhoři'' (Golden Eels) (starring

Vladimír Menšík Vladimír Menšík (9 October 1929 – 29 May 1988) was a popular Czech actor and entertainer, born in Ivančice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Both comedian and serious actor, he created a wide range of lively fictional character, characters. He st ...

) and ''Smrt krásných srnců''. Two of his books, ''Golden Eels'' and ''How I Came to Know Fish'' were translated into English. In 1973 Ota Pavel died of a sudden heart attack caused by an unknown condition. He was 42 years old. He is buried at the New Jewish cemetery in

Žižkov Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an indep ...

, next to his father.

Work

* ''Hory a lidé'', 1964 – book of photographs by Vilém Heckel, Pavel was the author of text * ''Dukla mezi mrakodrapy'', 1964 – sport theme, about the success of the Czech football team Dukla Praha in USA. * ''Plná bedna šampaňského'', 1967 – short stories * ''Cena vítězství'', 1968 – anthology * ''Pohár od Pánaboha'', 1971 * ''Smrt krásných srnců'', 1971 – memoirs of childhood and youth * ''Syn celerového krále'', 1972 – 16 short stories about famous sportsmen * ''Jak jsem potkal ryby'', 1974 – memoirs * ''Pohádka o Raškovi'', 1974 – "sport fairytale", inspired by the success of the Czech ski jumper

Jiří Raška Jiří Raška (; 4 February 1941 – 20 January 2012) was a Czechoslovakian ski jumper. He is regarded as the most famous Czech ski jumper of the 20th century. Early life He was born in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm in 1941. His father died of l ...

Published posthumously: * ''Fialový poustevník'', 1977 * ''Sedm deka zlata'', 1980 * ''Veliký vodní tulák'', 1980 – anthology * ''Zlatí úhoři'' (Golden Eels), 1985, new edition 1991 * ''Výstup na Eiger'', 1989 * ''Mám rád tu řeku'', 1989 * ''Jak šel táta Afrikou: Povídky'', 1994 - short stories * ''Omyl a jiné povídky'', 1995 - short stories * ''Olympijské hry a jiné povídky'', 1996 - short stories

Notes

References

* *

External links

* Johnston, Rosie (June 2, 2005).
Golden Eels and Long Ordeals: The life and times of Ota Pavel
" Radio Praha
Ota Pavel - English profile

Buštěhrad museum of Ota Pavel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavel, Ota Czech male writers Czech journalists 1930 births 1973 deaths People with bipolar disorder Jewish Czech writers Writers from Prague 20th-century journalists