Arnost Lustig a Marketa Malisova -1 cropped

Arnošt Lustig (; 21 December 1926 – 26 February 2011) was a renowned Czech Jewish author of

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s, short stories, plays, and

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s whose works have often involved the Holocaust.

Life and work

Lustig was born in Prague. As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia during World War II, he was sent in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, from where he was later transported 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 ...

, followed by time in the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. In 1945, he escaped from a train carrying him to the

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

when the engine was destroyed by an American

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

. He returned to Prague in time to take part in the May 1945

uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

against the German occupation. After the war, he studied journalism at

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 , undergr ...

in Prague and then worked for a number of years at

Radio Prague Radio Prague International ( cs, Český rozhlas 7 – Radio Praha) is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on August 31, 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in ...

. He worked as a journalist in Israel at the time of its War of Independence where he met his future wife, who at the time was a volunteer with the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

. He was one of the major critics of the Communist regime in June 1967 at the 4th Writers Conference, and gave up his membership in the Communist Party after the 1967 Middle East war, to protest his government's breaking of relations with Israel. However, following the Soviet-led invasion that ended the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

in 1968, he left the country, first to Yugoslavia, then Israel and later in 1970 to the United States. He spent the academic year 1970-1971 as a scholar in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. After the fall of communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he divided his time between Prague and Washington, D.C., where he continued to teach at the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. After his retirement from the American University in 2003, he became a full-time resident of Prague. He was given an apartment in the Prague Castle by then President Václav Havel and honored for his contributions to Czech culture on his 80th birthday in 2006. In 2008, Lustig became the eighth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize, and the third recipient of the Karel Čapek Prize in 1996. Lustig was married to Věra Weislitzová (1927-2009), daughter of a furniture maker from Ostrava who was also imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp. Unlike her parents, she was not deported to Auschwitz. She wrote of her family's fate during the Holocaust in the collection of poems entitled "Daughter of Olga and Leo." They have two children, Josef (1951) and Eva (1956). Lustig died at age 84 in Prague on 26 February 2011 after suffering from Hodgkin lymphoma for five years. His most renowned books are ''A Prayer For Katerina Horowitzowa'' (published and nominated for a National Book Award in 1974), ''Dita Saxová'' (1962, trans. 1979 as ''Dita Saxova''), ''Night and Hope'' (1957, trans. 1985), and ''Lovely Green Eyes'' (2004).

Selected books

* ''Night and Hope'' (1957) * ''Diamonds of the Night'' (1958) – contains the short story "Darkness Casts No Shadow", which was adapted into the film ''

Diamonds of the Night ''Diamonds of the Night'' ( cs, Démanty noci) is a 1964 Cinema of the Czech Republic, Czech film about two boys on the run from a train taking them to a concentration camp, based loosely on Arnošt Lustig's autobiographical novel ''Darkness Has No ...

'' (1964) * ''Street of Lost Brothers'' (1959) * ''Dita Saxová'' (1962) * ''Transport from Paradise'' (1962) * ''A Prayer for Kateřina Horovitzová'' (1964) * ''The Bitter Smell of Almonds'' (1968) * ''The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S.'' (1979) * ''Waiting for Leah'' (1992) * ''The House of Returned Echoes'' (1994) * ''Lovely Green Eyes: A Novel'' (2000)

Awards

* 1980: National Jewish Book Award for ''Dita Saxová'' *1986: National Jewish Book Award for The Unloved: From the Dairy of Perla S.

References

External links

*
Watch film about Arnost Lustig "Nine lives" at www.dafilms.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lustig, Arnost 1926 births 2011 deaths Czech male writers Jewish Czech writers Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Czech expatriates in the United States Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Deaths from cancer in the Czech Republic Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma International Writing Program alumni Charles University alumni

Life and work

Selected books

Awards

See also

References

External links