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

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

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 ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

at the Charles University of Prague 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, where he met his future wife, Margita Krausová (1923–1998). Both became active in the communist resistance group in Theresienstadt and collaborated with Josef Taussig, Bruno Zwicker, Valtr Eisinger, Josef Stiassny and Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. In September 1944, they were deported to the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

in occupied Poland. From there, Kárný was deported for slave labour to the Kaufering concentration camp in Germany, a subcamp of Dachau. After the war, he became a journalist, then a freelance historian, specializing in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and German fascism. He was expelled from 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 Com ...

(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 On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

. He retired in 1973.

Publications

;Books * With Götz Aly and Susanne Heim: ''Sozialpolitik und Judenvernichtung. Gibt es eine Ökonomie der „Endlösung“?'', Rotbuch 1987, * With Jaroslava Milotova and Margita Karna: ''Deutsche Politik im „Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren“ unter Reinhard Heydrich 1941–1942. Eine Dokumentation.'' 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 20th-century Czech Jews 21st-century Czech Jews Writers from Prague Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Dachau concentration camp survivors Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors StB Czechoslovak historians Czechoslovak journalists Charles University alumni