Eduard Vincenc Urx (29 January 1903 – 20 April 1942) was a

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician, journalist, essayist, literary critic and

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

. A member of the anti-fascist resistance movement, he was captured and murdered by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

during the occupation.

Biography

Urx was born in 1903 in

Velká nad Veličkou Velká nad Veličkou () is a municipality and village in Hodonín District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. Geography Velká nad Veličkou is located about east of Hodonín and west of Trenčín ...

, into the family of a forestry official. He was baptized a Catholic but the left the Church in 1924. From 1922 to 1925 he studied philosophy and Czech and German philology at

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 ...

, but did not finish his studies and became a member of the Free Association of Socialist Students from

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. 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 ...

(KSČ) in 1924. He was involved in the founding of the '' DAV'' magazine. Due to theoretical disagreement he left the group with

Peter Jilemnický Peter Jilemnický (pseudonyms: Al Arm, Peter Malý, Peter Hron) (March 18, 1901 – May 19, 1949) was a Slovak writer, journalist, educator and Communist politician of Czech origin. Biography Jilemincký was born in Kyšperk (today Letohrad), i ...

. Urx was engaged in journalistic and propaganda. Urx was a close associate of

Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald (; 23 November 1896 – 14 March 1953) was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953 – titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman f ...

and supported his new leadership. From 1929 to 1931 and 1938, Urx was the editor of the central KSČ organ ''

Rudé právo ''Rudé právo'' ( Czech for ''Red Justice'' or ''The Red Right'') was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. History and profile ''Rudé právo'' was founded in 1920 when the party was splitting from the social demo ...

'' newspaper. In 1931 he was sentenced to nine months in prison for his activities and was secretly sent to study in Moscow, where he simultaneously worked in the apparatus of the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

. He also published under the pseudonym M. Biss. From 1938, he edited the illegal edition of ''Rudé právo''. After the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Urx became involved in the resistance and was elected chairman of the underground Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Urx was primarily involved in publishing anti-nazi literature and maintaining connections with the Communist Party leadership in Moscow. In 1941, 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 ...

and imprisoned in the

Pankrác Prison Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison (), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in Pankrác, not far from Pražského povstání metro stati ...

, then transferred to the

Terezín concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresiensta ...

, and later to the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

, where he was killed in 1942.

Selected works

* ''Filosofie československé vládnoucí třídy'', Tvorba 1930; * ''Ke kritice formální logiky, Československá filosofie. Několik poznámek o dějinách filosofie a hlavně o spisu dr. Josefa Krále'', Tvorba 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urx, Eduard 1903 births 1942 deaths People from Hodonín District Czech journalists 20th-century Czech philosophers Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Czechoslovak Marxists Czech anti-fascists Czech resistance members Czech literary critics Czechoslovak Comintern people Czech communist writers Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners People who died in Mauthausen concentration camp Slovak people of Croatian descent Slovak anti-fascists Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Slovak journalists Slovak literary critics