MIKULÁŠ GACEK

• Authors: Vrábel Ferdinand

Title variants

EN

Mikuláš Gacek

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

Mikuláš Gacek belonged to the generation sorely affected by both world wars. In the Austria-Hungary, he was denigrated as a Slovak patriot, during the World War 1 he fought first as an Austro-Hungarian soldier and later as a Czechoslovak legionary in Russia. During the World War 2, he first served as a cultural attaché at the Slovak Republic embassy in Moscow, later operated at the Press Department of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. He spent the years 1945 – 1955 under inhuman conditions in the Soviet gulags in Kazakhstan. The end of his life was affected by a struggle for modest living, provision for his family and full rehabilitation. His life energy was admirable because he engaged in creative work even under these unfavourable conditions. He was translating Russian and Soviet literature and drama. Gacek, a man sorely tested by life, modest and very talented, left two books of memoirs capturing his story as well as valuable translations of the works characterised by beautiful and rich Slovak language and lyric so rare among translators. His life at Orava was naturally reflected in his language, which according to his contemporaries “sounded correct, softly and beautiful from his mouth”. (Branislav Manica).

Keywords

EN

MILITARY HISTORY; GACEK MIKULÁŠ; RUSSIAN LEGION; MINISTRY OF DEFENCE SR; MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SR; GULAG

• Publisher: Vojenský historický ústav Bratislava
• Journal: Vojenská história
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 82 - 88

Contributors

author

Vrábel Ferdinand

• Nadácia Milana Rastislava Štefánika, Košická 56, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovak Republic