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Julius Fucik
JULIUS FUCIK (23 February 1903 - 8 September 1943) was a Czechoslovak journalist, an active member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and part of the forefront of the anti-Nazi resistance. H...view moreJULIUS FUCIK (23 February 1903 - 8 September 1943) was a Czechoslovak journalist, an active member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and part of the forefront of the anti-Nazi resistance. He was imprisoned, tortured, and executed by the Nazis.
He was born in Prague into a working class family. His uncle was the composer Julius Fučík. In 1913, the family moved to Plzeň (Pilsen), where he attended the state vocational high school. In 1920 he attended university in Prague and joined the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers’ Party. In May 1921 the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) was founded and he wrote cultural contributions for the local Plzeň CPC newspaper.
After completing his studies, he became editor of literary newspapers and magazines whilst continuing to contribute to the CPC newspaper Rudé právo (“Red Law”). He managed to escape a prison sentence in 1934 and moved to the Soviet Union until 1936. After Nazi Germany’s troops invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he moved to in Chotiměř and published in civilian newspapers. He continued to work for the now underground CPC, resulting in the Gestapo searching for him in 1940. He moved back to Prague and joined the CPC’s Central Committee in 1941.
On 24 April 1942 he and six others were arrested in Prague by the Gestapo. He was imprisoned, interrogated and tortured before being brought to Germany in May 1943 for trial. He was sentenced to death and hanged on 8 September 1943 in Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. He was 40 years old.
DR. SAMUEL SILLEN (June 17, 1910 - February 1, 1973) was a Marxist literary critic and writer. He earned his Ph.D. in 1935 from the University of Wisconsin and joined the Communist party in 1936. He became literary editor of their weekly, New Masses, in 1937. In 1947 he founded and edited Mainstream, a literary quarterly, which was merged with New Masses in 1948. He edited the monthly publication, Masses & Mainstream, until 1956.view less