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 (; ) 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 protected by law as an urban monument z ...

. He studied philosophy at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

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 ...

and then in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. 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 Com ...

, but he was expelled after criticizing the Moscow Trials of 1936. He was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

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 Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

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 (born: Králová, 25 December 1901 – 27 June 1950) was a Czech politician and a member of the underground resistance movement during World War II. She was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the Communis ...

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

References

1902 births 1950 deaths Czech journalists Czech male writers 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 Charles University alumni {{Czech-politician-stub