Ladislav Mňačko (28 January 1919 in

Valašské Klobouky Valašské Klobouky (; ) is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,900 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urb ...

– 24 February 1994 in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

) was a Czechoslovak writer and journalist. He was a member of the partisan movement in Slovakia during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he was at first a staunch supporter of the

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...

and one of its most prominent journalists. However, after becoming disillusioned, he became a vocal critic of the regime, and as a consequence he was persecuted and censored. In the autumn of 1967, he went to Israel in protest against the official position of Czechoslovakia during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, but he returned soon afterwards. After the

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 in ...

by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-led

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

in August 1968, he emigrated again, this time to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where he lived for the next 21 years. In 1968 and 1969, he aided a number of Czechoslovak emigrants who came to Vienna. In January 1990, shortly after the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

, he returned to Czechoslovakia, but subsequent political developments and the growth of nationalism in the Slovak part of the federation disappointed him. After the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

in 1992, which he strongly opposed, he moved to

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 ...

. He died suddenly due to cardiac weakness during a short visit to Slovakia and was buried in Lukovištia. Mňačko is one of the few Slovak writers of the 1950s and 1960s whose works were translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. There is a permanent exhibition of the study and library of Ladislav Mňačko in Malá vila PNP, Pelléova 20/71, 160 00 Praha 6 – Bubeneč, almost identical to Mňačko's study in his Prague apartment.

Works

* ''Smrť sa volá Engelchen'' (Death Is Called Engelchen), 1959. Translated into English by George Theiner in 1963. Filmed by

Ján Kadár Ján Kadár (1 April 1918 – 1 June 1979) was a Slovak film writer and director of Jewish heritage. As a filmmaker, he worked in Czechoslovakia, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos. The two b ...

in 196

* ''Oneskorené reportáže'' (Delayed Reportages), 1963. * ''Ako chutí moc'' (The Taste of Power), 1967. Translated into English by Paul Stevenson in 1967. * ''Siedma noc'' (The Seventh Night), 1968. Translated into English in 1969.

References

External links

Literárne informačné centrum (LIC): ''Ladislav Mňačko''
Biography on litcentrum.sk (Slovak)
Study and library of Ladislav Mňačko in Prague
1919 births 1994 deaths Slovak novelists Slovak dramatists and playwrights Slovak communists Czechoslovak communists Czechoslovak emigrants to Austria People from Valašské Klobouky Czechoslovak writers Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st class {{Slovakia-writer-stub