Záviš Kalandra (10 November 1902 – 27 June 1950) was a Czechoslovak historian, theatre critic and theorist of literature. He was born in

Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Frenštát pod Radhoštěm (; german: Frankstadt (unter dem Radhoscht)) is a town in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is ...

. He studied philosophy 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 , under ...

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 then in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. In 1923 he joined the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

, but he was expelled due to his criticism of Stalin's policy. Kalandra criticized the Moscow Trials of 1936 and was expelled from the Communist Party. He was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in 1939 and imprisoned until 1945 in various concentration camps. After the war he was branded as a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

and accused of being the member of a supposed plot to overthrow the Communist regime. He was sentenced to death along with his co-defendants,

Milada Horáková Milada Horáková (née Králová, 25 December 1901 – 27 June 1950) was a Czech politician and a member of underground resistance movement during World War II. She was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the nation's Commu ...

, Jan Buchal and Oldřich Pecl, on 8 June 1950, and executed.

References

1902 births 1950 deaths People from Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Executed politicians People executed for treason against Czechoslovakia People executed by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic by hanging Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk {{Czech-politician-stub