Karel Destovnik Kajuh

Karel Destovnik Kajuh

Karel Destovnik Kajuh (19 December 1922 - 22 February 1944) was a Slovene poet, translator and national hero.

Life and work

Kajuh was born in the Lower Styrian town of Šoštanj as the eldest child of Jože Destovnik and Marija Vasle. The sobriquet Kajuh comes from his grandfather's birthplace in Skorno near Šmartno ob Paki.

After finishing primary school in 1933, he enrolled in the prestigious Celje High School. In 1934 he became member of the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia. He was expelled from school because of »participation in the dissemination of communist ideas«, as was stated in the official explanation. He continued schooling in Maribor.

Kajuh started writing poems before World War Two. He began publishing his poems in the youth literary magazine "Slovenska mladina". Some of his best poems from this period with social, political and love themes were published in this journal: "Otrok slovenski" (Slovene Child), "Slutnja" (Premonition), "Norec" (Madman), "Pesem delavca o svoji ljubici" (A Worker's Poem on his Beloved One), "Vseh mrtvih dan" (Day of All the Dead), "Otrokovo pismo Jezuščku" (A Child's Letter to Jesus), "Novoletni sonet" (A New Year's Sonnet), "Kmečki otrok vprašuje" (The Question of Peasant's Child), "Moj stric" (My Uncle), etc. Kajuh was also a prolific translator. Expecially noteworthy are his translations from Czech, particularly of the authors Jiří Wolker, František Halas, Ivan Olbracht and Jaroslav Seifert.

He was arrested by the Yugoslav authorities at the end of January 1941 and sent to prison in Ivanjica in Serbia, where he remained until mid February. On 6 April 1941, the first day of Axis invasion of Yugoslavia Kajuh volunteered to the Yugoslav Army defend his country. On April 28 of the same year, after the Nazi German occupation of norhern Slovenia, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Slovenj Gradec. He was released in May and he hid in the Savinja Valley before escaping to Ljubljana, where he joined the Slovene resistance forces.

His revolutionary and simple love poetry was very popular among Slovene partisans. He used his poetic talent in order to mobilize people into fighting against the occupying forces and inspiring them hope of a return to freedom. The first comprehensive collection of his poems was published in 1945 in Ljubljana, edited by Mile Klopčič.

Kajuh was in touch with his contemporary Slovene literary scene. He maintained contacts with renowned authors such as Tone Seliškar, Matej Bor and Prežihov Voranc. He also met with Oton Župančič who was considered at the time to be the most important poet in Slovene language. Although the details of their meetings remain unknown, the young poet apparently left a huge impression on Župančič, who stated his enthusiasm for Kajuh's work.

After joining the Partisans, Kajuh became the leader of the cultural section in his military unit, the XIVth Slovene Partisan Division. On 6 January 1944, the Division left the region of White Carniola in the Province of Ljubljana where it was stationed in order to reach the Lower Styria through the Croatian soil. They reached their final destination on 6 February of the same year, facing a massive German offensive and a bitterly cold winter. The cultural section of the unit was based in a house in the small locality of Žlebnik. The house was attacked by a German patrol and Kajuh was one of the first to be killed.

On 21 July 1953, Kajuh was declared a national hero of Yugoslavia.

A primary school in Ljubljana and the Kajuh Literary Prize are named after him, as are several streets and squares throughout Slovenia. In Celje, a whole town district is named after him. Together with Matej Bor and Edvard Kocbek, Kajuh is regarded as one of the most important poets of the Anti-Fascist Liberation War in the Slovene Lands.

Sources

* Emil Cesar, "Karel Destovnik Kajuh", Ljubljana 1979
* [http://www.dogaja.se/opis/karel_destovnik_kajuh/2567 Karel Destovnik- Kajuh: pesnik - Dogaja.se ] at www.dogaja.se

External links

* [http://www.omnibus.se/cgi-bin/avtor.pl?eF=KARDES Karl Destovnik Kajuh's poems ("in Slovene")]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Karel Destovnik Kajuh, Celje — Karel Destovnik Kajuh is a neighborhood (Slovene mestna četrt ) of the city of Celje in Slovenia. It was named after the Slovene national hero Karel Destovnik Kajuh …   Wikipedia

  • Celje —   City and Municipality   Celje from the Celje Castle in 2004 …   Wikipedia

  • List of World War II topics (K) — # K 25 # K ration # K class submarine (Soviet) # K is for Killing # K. P. K. Menon # K?ichi Kido # K?ichi Shiozawa # K?ki Hirota # K?s? Abe # K?saku Aruga # K?tar? Nakamura # KA BAR # Ka tzetnik # Kaarlo Mäkinen # Kaba Diawara # Kabaty # Kabayama …   Wikipedia

  • List of Slovenes — This is a list of Slovenes and people from Slovenia that are famous or notable. Artists / Performing Arts * Zvest Apollonio (1935 ) painter and graphic artist. * Berko (1946 ) painter and graphic artist. * Emerik Bernard (1927 ) painter. * Janez… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Slovene language poets — Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in Slovene. NOTOC A C: Fran Albreht (1889 1965): Vera Albreht (1895 1971): Anton Aškerc (1856 1912): France Balantič (1921 1943): Nevin Birsa (1947 2003): Matej Bor (1913 1993): Ivan Cankar (1876… …   Wikipedia

  • Slovene literature — starts with Freising manuscripts around 1000. From first printed Slovene religious books in 1550 it is followed by these literary periods and notable authors: Middle Ages * Freising Manuscripts * Klagenfurt Manuscript * Stična Manuscript *… …   Wikipedia

  • Yugoslav Partisans — The Partisans redirects here. For the Welsh punk rock band, see The Partisans (band). People s Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia Participant in the Yugoslav Front …   Wikipedia

  • Lower Styria — ( sl. Štajerska; de. Untersteiermark; Latin: Styria ) is a historical region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. Use of the nameThe Duchy of Styria, which existed as a dinstict political… …   Wikipedia

  • Srečko Kosovel — Infobox Writer name = Srečko Kosovel caption = Kosovel in a drawing by Alfons Graber birth date = birth date|1904|3|18|mf=y birth place = Sežana, Gorizia and Gradisca, Austria Hungary (now in Slovenia) death date = death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • Šoštanj — Municipality of Slovenia|nativename=Šoštanj mayor=Darko Menih coat= location= area=95,6 km² population=8.254 males=4.062 females=4.192 avg age=39,2 residental density=27,77 m²/osebo households=2.803 families=2.338 workers=3.819 unemployed=431… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”