Arnošt Lustig | |
|---|---|
 Arnošt Lustig (2009) | |
| Born | (1926-12-21)21 December 1926 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 26 February 2011(2011-02-26) (aged 84) Prague, Czech Republic |
| Education | Journalism |
| Alma mater | Charles University |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | A Prayer For Katerina Horowitzowa,Dita Saxová,Night and Hope,Lovely Green Eyes |
| Spouse | Věra Weislitzová |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Franz Kafka Prize (2008) Karel Čapek Prize (1996) National Jewish Book Award forDita Saxová (1980) The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S. (1986) |
Arnošt Lustig (Czech pronunciation:[ˈarnoʃtˈlustɪk]; 21 December 1926 – 26 February 2011)[1] was a renownedCzechJewish author ofnovels,short stories,plays, andscreenplays whose works have often involved theHolocaust.
Lustig was born inPrague. As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia duringWorld War II, he was sent in 1942 to theTheresienstadt concentration camp, from where he was later transported to theAuschwitz concentration camp, followed by time in theBuchenwald concentration camp.[2] In 1945, he escaped from a train carrying him to theDachau concentration camp when the engine was destroyed by an Americanfighter-bomber. He returned to Prague in time to take part in the May 1945uprising against the German occupation.
After the war, he studiedjournalism atCharles University in Prague and then worked for a number of years atRadio Prague. He worked as a journalist in Israel at the time of its War of Independence where he met his future wife, who at the time was a volunteer with theHaganah.[2] He was one of the major critics of the Communist regime in June 1967 at the 4th Writers Conference, and gave up his membership in the Communist Party after the 1967 Middle East war, to protest his government's breaking of relations with Israel.[2] However, following the Soviet-led invasion that ended thePrague Spring in 1968, he left the country, first toYugoslavia, thenIsrael and later in 1970 to theUnited States.[2] He spent the academic year 1970-1971 as a scholar in theInternational Writing Program at theUniversity of Iowa. After the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he divided his time between Prague andWashington, D.C., where he continued to teach at theAmerican University. After his retirement from the American University in 2003, he became a full-time resident of Prague. He was given an apartment in thePrague Castle by then PresidentVáclav Havel and honored for his contributions toCzech culture on his 80th birthday in 2006. In 2008, Lustig became the eighth recipient of theFranz Kafka Prize,[3] and the third recipient of theKarel Čapek Prize in 1996.[4]
Lustig was married to Věra Weislitzová (1927-2009), daughter of a furniture maker fromOstrava who was also imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp. Unlike her parents, she was not deported to Auschwitz. She wrote of her family's fate during the Holocaust in the collection of poems entitled "Daughter of Olga and Leo." They have two children, Josef (1951)[5] and Eva (1956).
Lustig died at age 84 in Prague on 26 February 2011[6] after suffering fromHodgkin lymphoma for five years.
His most renowned books areA Prayer For Katerina Horowitzowa (published and nominated for aNational Book Award in 1974),Dita Saxová (1962, trans. 1979 asDita Saxova),Night and Hope (1957, trans. 1985), andLovely Green Eyes (2004).
