Karel Destovnik Kajuh
Encyclopedia
Karel Destovnik, pen name
and nom de guerre Kajuh (Slovene convention: Karel Destovnik – Kajuh, 19 December 1922–22 February 1944) was a Slovenia
n poet
, translator, resistance fighter, and Yugoslav national hero
.
in Slovenian Styria
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 his schooling in Maribor
.
Kajuh started writing poems before World War II
. He began publishing his poems in the literary magazine for youth Slovenska mladina (Slovene Youth), edited by his friend Dušan Pirjevec
. 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), "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 the Peasant's Child), "Moj stric" (My Uncle), and so on. Kajuh was also a prolific translator. Especially 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
, Serbia
, where he remained until mid-February. On 6 April 1941, the first day of Axis
invasion of Yugoslavia
Kajuh volunteered for the Yugoslav Army to defend his country. On April 28 of the same year, after the Nazi German occupation of northern 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 writing in Slovene. 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 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.
.
Up to these days, both Kajuh as a person and his poetry are considered one of the most important symbols of the Slovenian National Liberation Struggle during World War II. 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
.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
and nom de guerre Kajuh (Slovene convention: Karel Destovnik – Kajuh, 19 December 1922–22 February 1944) was a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, translator, resistance fighter, and Yugoslav national hero
Folk hero
A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...
.
Life and work
Kajuh was born in the town of ŠoštanjŠoštanj
Šoštanj is a town and municipality in northern Slovenia. It was first mentioned in written documents dating to around 1200 as Schönstein in relation to its castle. As a market town it was first mentioned in 1348. It was given town status in 1919 and until the 1960s was the center of the Šalek...
in Slovenian Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
as the eldest child of Jože Destovnik and Marija Vasle. The sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
Kajuh comes from his grandfather's birthplace in Skorno near Šmartno ob Paki
Šmartno ob Paki
Šmartno ob Paki is a settlement and a small municipality in the lower valley of the river Paka in northern Slovenia. The area was part of the traditional region of Styria...
.
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
Young Communist League of Yugoslavia
Young Communist League of Yugoslavia, commonly known by its abbreviation SKOJ was the youth wing of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1948...
. He was expelled from school because of "participation in the dissemination of communist ideas," as was stated in the official explanation. He continued his schooling in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
.
Kajuh started writing poems before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He began publishing his poems in the literary magazine for youth Slovenska mladina (Slovene Youth), edited by his friend Dušan Pirjevec
Dušan Pirjevec
Dušan Pirjevec, known by his battle name Ahac , was a Slovenian resistance fighter, literary historian and philosopher...
. 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), "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 the Peasant's Child), "Moj stric" (My Uncle), and so on. Kajuh was also a prolific translator. Especially noteworthy are his translations from Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, particularly of the authors Jiří Wolker
Jirí Wolker
Jiří Wolker was a Czech poet, journalist and playwright. He was one of the founding members of CPC - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1921.- Life :...
, František Halas
František Halas
František Halas was one of the most significant Czech lyric poets of the 20th century, an essayist, and a translator.- Life :...
, Ivan Olbracht
Ivan Olbracht
Ivan Olbracht was a Czech writer, journalist and translator of German prose.The son of writer Antal Stašek, Olbracht studied law and philosophy in Prague and Berlin...
, and Jaroslav Seifert
Jaroslav Seifert
Jaroslav Seifert was a Nobel Prize winning Czech writer, poet and journalist.Born in Žižkov, a suburb of Prague in what was then part of Austria-Hungary, his first collection of poems was published in 1921...
.
He was arrested by the Yugoslav
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
authorities at the end of January 1941 and sent to prison in Ivanjica
Ivanjica
Ivanjica is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of Serbia. The population of the town is 11,810, while population of the municipality is 32,047....
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where he remained until mid-February. On 6 April 1941, the first day of Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
invasion of Yugoslavia
Invasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
Kajuh volunteered for the Yugoslav Army to defend his country. On April 28 of the same year, after the Nazi German occupation of northern Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, he was arrested by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and imprisoned in Slovenj Gradec
Slovenj Gradec
Slovenj Gradec is a town and a municipality in northern Slovenia. It is part of the historic Lower Styria region, since 2005 it belongs to the NUTS-3 statistical region of Carinthia...
. He was released in May and he hid in the Savinja
Savinja
The Savinja is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja valley and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Savinja Alps . It flows into Sava River at the town of Zidani Most. It has often flooded, such as in the 1960s,...
Valley before escaping to Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, where he joined the Slovene resistance forces
Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...
.
His revolutionary and simple love poetry was very popular among Slovene partisans
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
. 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
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, edited by Mile Klopčič
Mile Klopčič
Mile Klopčič was a Slovenian poet and translator. Together with Tone Seliškar, he is considered as the foremost representative of Slovene social realist poetry of the 1930s and 1940s....
.
Kajuh was in touch with his contemporary Slovene literary scene. He maintained contacts with renowned authors such as Tone Seliškar
Tone Seliškar
Tone Seliškar was a Slovene writer, poet, journalist and teacher. He published poetry, short stories and novels and is also known for his youth literature...
, Matej Bor
Matej Bor
Matej Bor was the pen name of Vladimir Pavšič , who was a Slovene poet, translator, playwright, journalist and partisan.-Biography:...
, and Prežihov Voranc
Prežihov Voranc
Prežihov Voranc was the pen name of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene writer and Communist political activist. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short stories in the social realist style, notable for their depictions of poverty in rural and...
. He also met with Oton Župančič
Oton Župancic
Oton Župančič was a Slovene poet, translator and playwright.Župančič is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovenian literature...
who was considered at the time to be the most important poet writing in Slovene. 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
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
, 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
White Carniola
White Carniola is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia and is the most southern part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola. Its major towns are Metlika, Črnomelj, and Semič, and the principal river is the Kolpa, which also forms part of the...
in the Province of Ljubljana
Province of Ljubljana
The Province of Ljubljana was a province of the Kingdom of Italy and of the Nazi German Adriatic Littoral during World War II. It was created on May 3, 1941 from territory occupied and annexed to Italy after the Axis invasion and dissolution of Yugoslavia, and it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when...
where it was stationed in order to reach Lower Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
through the Croatian
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
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
Šentvid pri Zavodnju
Šentvid pri Zavodnju is a dispersed settlement in the Šoštanj municipality in northern Slovenia. It lies in the Mozirske planine hills to the northwest the town of Šoštanj. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria...
. The house was attacked by a German patrol and Kajuh was one of the first to be killed.
Legacy
On 21 July 1953, Kajuh was declared a national hero of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.
Up to these days, both Kajuh as a person and his poetry are considered one of the most important symbols of the Slovenian National Liberation Struggle during World War II. A primary school in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
and the Kajuh Literary Prize are named after him, as are several streets and squares throughout Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. In Celje
Celje
Celje is a typical Central European town and the third largest town in Slovenia. It is a regional center of Lower Styria and the administrative seat of the Urban Municipality of Celje . The town of Celje is located under Upper Celje Castle at the confluence of the Savinja, Ložnica, and Voglajna...
, a whole town district
Karel Destovnik Kajuh, Celje
Karel Destovnik Kajuh is a neighborhood of the city of Celje in Slovenia. It was named after the Slovene national hero Karel Destovnik Kajuh....
is named after him. Together with Matej Bor
Matej Bor
Matej Bor was the pen name of Vladimir Pavšič , who was a Slovene poet, translator, playwright, journalist and partisan.-Biography:...
and Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, political activist, and resistance fighter. He is considered as one of the best authors who have written in Slovene, and one of the best Slovene poets after Prešeren...
, Kajuh is regarded as one of the most important poets of the Anti-Fascist Liberation War in the Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
.
Sources
- Emil Cesar, Karel Destovnik Kajuh, LjubljanaLjubljanaLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
1979 - Karel Destovnik- Kajuh: pesnik - Dogaja.se at www.dogaja.se