"Jsem člověk, který se těžko podvoluje" : proces s Jiřím Kolářem v roce 1953

• Authors: Suk, Marek

Title variants

EN

"I am not a man who backs down easily"  : the trial of Jiří Kolář in 1953

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

b1_In my text "i am not a man who backs down easily" - The trial of Jiří Kolář in 1953, I deal with the case of the poet Jiří Kolář, who was prosecuted for an anti-state typescript Prometheova játra. By studying in detail the investigative report I managed to find new information on the subject, which has already been assessed many times in an artistic and cultural context, and to answer questions on the circumstances of the arrest and the course of the investigation. The article is more of less divided into two parts: the first briefly describes how Kolář went from being a staunch communist to an uncompromising critic of the post-1948 regime. The fact that he was prohibited from publishing shortly after the communist take-over very much induced him to write Prometheova játra. However, greatest attention is paid to the events following the discovery by the police of the typescript during a search of Václav Černý's home. The arrest order was not made out as soon as the author was identified. The investigators first offered Kolář the option of collaborating. If he had accepted this offer and become an StB agent he would have avoided prosecution. After hesitating for a long time the poet refused and went to prison. The second half outlines the investigation procedure and the trial. Two lines are evident from the custodial interrogations: the interrogator's and Kolář's. The accomplished interrogator had some well-thought-out questions with which he intended to compel the accused to confirm the political views that he had expressed in the typescript. Kolář's depositions indicate he did not want to be forced into explaining his political views. He repeated that he bore personal and artistic but not political responsibility for the typescript. His case clearly shows that under the Stalinist terror it was difficult, indeed almost impossible, to separate art from politics.

EN

b2_ At the trial he received a year in prison, which was lenient in comparison with the heavy sentences handed down at the time in the political trials. This verdict was undoubtedly influenced by Kolář's relatively penitent court testimony, the death of Stalin and Gottwald, the indulgence of the prosecutor and possibly other circumstances that have not yet been clarified.

Keywords

CS

Literatura. Literární život; poúnorový režim; Prometheova játra; vyšetřování

EN

Post-1948 regime; State Security; investigation

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Česká literatura (Czech Literature)
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 547-559
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Suk, Marek

• Česká literatura, redakce, Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, v. v. i., Na Florenci 3/1420, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic