Jože Šmit (1 February 1922 – 7 February 2004) was a Slovene poet, translator, editor and journalist. Šmit was born in the village of Tlake near

Rogatec Rogatec (; Suppan, Arnold. 1996. ''Jugoslawien und Österreich 1918–1938: Bilaterale Außenpolitik im Europäischen Umfeld.'' Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, p. 663.) is a small town in eastern Slovenia, on the border with Croatia. I ...

in eastern

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

in 1922. The house in which he was born and spent his childhood is preserved on a new location at the Rogatec Open-Air Museum where it was moved to in 1981 as a typical example of an early 19th-century Sub-Pannonian house. He studied

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

between 1942 and 1943 and was drafted into the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

. During the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...

he was captured and sent to England as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and then to Italy, where he joined the Overseas Brigade of the Yugoslav Liberation Army and returned to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. After the war he worked as a journalist and studied

Comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

and literature at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

, but was sent to work in

Litija Litija (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 90, 92–93.) is a town in the Litija Basin in central Slovenia. It is the seat of the Mu ...

and abandoned his studies. He worked as an editor and proof-reader and is also known for his translations, particularly for his translation from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

of the poet

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

. He also wrote prose and poetry for young children. He died in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

in 2004. In 1970 he won the

Levstik Award The Levstik Award () is a literary award in Slovenia awarded for achievements in children's literature. It has been bestowed since 1949 by the Mladinska Knjiga Publishing House, making it the first literary award established by a Slovene publishin ...

for his poetry collection ''Kako bomo umirali'' (How We Shall Die).

Published works

; Poetry collections * ''Srce v bedi'' (The Heart in Poverty), 1950 * ''Dvojni cvet'' (The Double Flower), 1953 * ''Trepetlika'' (The Trembling Poplar), 1962 * ''Lirika časa'' (Lyrics of Time), 1965 * ''Lirična postila'' (A Lyrical Fasting Book), 1965 * ''Kolosej iz cedelike'' (The Strainer Colosseum), 1967 * ''Kako bomo umirali'' (How We Shall Die), 1970 * ''Zlo stoletja'' (The Evil of the Century), 1971 * ''Hoja za Katulom'' (Walking after Catullus), 1972 * ''Grenki med'' (Bitter Honey), 1990 ; Prose for Young Readers * ''Marjetka'' (Little Margaret), 1951 * ''Kaj nam je popisal Jakec'' (What Little Jack Told Us), 1953 * ''Pol za šalo pol za res'' (Half For Fun and Half Seriously), 1956 * ''Kdo živi v tej kišici'' (Who Lives in This Little House), 1959 * ''Ježek se ženi'' (The Hedgehog's Wedding), 1974

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Joze Slovenian male poets Slovenian translators Slovenian journalists Slovenian children's writers 1922 births 2004 deaths Levstik Award laureates University of Ljubljana alumni Yugoslav Partisans members German Army personnel of World War II University of Vienna alumni 20th-century Slovenian translators 20th-century Slovenian poets People from the Municipality of Rogatec 20th-century journalists Yugoslav poets