Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz (born Markéta Götzová; 15 February 1927 – 6 November 2022) was a Canadian scholar and translator, best-known for her work on Czech literature. Born to a German Bohemian mother and a

Czech-Jewish The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, historically the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including the modern Czech Republic (i.e. Bohemia, Moravia, and the southeast or Czech Silesia), goes back at least 1100 years. There is evidence that J ...

father, she won the 1988 Ordo Scriptores Bohemici prize, 2000 Medal of Merit, and 2016 George Theiner Prize.

Radio Prague Radio Prague International () is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on 31 August 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, Fr ...

International described her as

Life

Markéta Götzová was born in

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

. From 1935 to 1948, she lived in Místek where she studied at a German School. Her father was Jewish and survived

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

. In 1948, her family emigrated to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. She studied

German philology German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, German literature, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on Culture ...

and graduated from

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the 19th century German novelist

Wilhelm Raabe Wilhelm Raabe (; September 8, 1831November 15, 1910) was a German novelist. His early works were published under the pseudonym of Jakob Corvinus. Biography He was born in Eschershausen (then in the Duchy of Brunswick, now in the Holzminden Dist ...

. From 1959, she taught German literature at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, and was best known for her scholarship on

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

and dissident writers such as

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

. In 1965, she married Polish-born political scientist Władysław Stankiewicz. From 1973 to 1989, she travelled annually 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 ...

, and met many Czech writers, promoting their work in the west. She retired in 1992 but continued writing and speaking at conferences. She died at her home in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on 6 November 2022, aged 96.

Works

* Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz (ed) ''The Vanĕk Plays: Four Authors, One Character.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. * ''Good-Bye Samizdat: Twenty Years of Czechoslovak Underground Writing,'' Northwestern University Press, 1992.

References

External links

Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz
Detailed biography at Memory of Nations
Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz: of unknown origin in a strange wood without leaves
interview with David Vaughn of

International, September 24, 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goetz-Stankiewicz, Marketa 1927 births 2022 deaths People from Liberec Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Canadian women historians Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) People of Sudeten German descent People of Czech-Jewish descent University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Canadian women literary critics Scholars of German literature Slavists Czech literary historians 20th-century Canadian women writers Writers from Toronto Writers from Vancouver Literary critics of German