115 years ago, on February 23, 1903, a man was born who for several generations became a symbol of fortitude, courage and honesty - a journalist, writer, fighter against fascism Julius Fucik … True, after a series of "velvet revolutions" that destroyed the socialist camp, they tried to debunk the name of this heroic anti-fascist. His “fault” before various falsifiers of history was only that he was a communist.
The future journalist was born in Prague (then the Czech Republic was part of Austria-Hungary), in the family of a turner worker. He was named Julius after his uncle, who was a composer. The boy was fond of history, literature, theater. He was especially inspired by the personality of the famous Czech patriot Jan Hus. At the age of twelve he even tried to publish his own newspaper called "Slavyanin".
The family wanted Julius to study engineering, but he entered the philosophy department of the University of Prague. When the young man turned 18, he joined the Communist Party. Soon he became editor of the communist newspaper "Rude Pravo", as well as the magazine "Tvorba". He was engaged not only in political journalism, but also in literary and theater criticism.
An important stage in the life of Julius Fucik was his visit to the Soviet Union in 1930. He went there as a journalist and stayed in the Soviet country for two years. He traveled a lot in Central Asia. Life in the USSR delighted him. As a result of his long business trip, Fucik wrote a book entitled "In a country where our tomorrow is already yesterday." After that, he fiercely defended the USSR in polemics with anyone who criticized the Soviet Union.
In 1934 Fucik went on a business trip to Germany. And there he sharply did not like the situation. After this trip, he began writing articles against fascism. This was not to the liking of the authorities, who were then no longer opposed to cooperation with Hitler. And the "soft" persecution to which the Communist Party was previously subjected (nevertheless, it had the opportunity for legal activity), began to be more and more replaced by "harsh".
Fleeing from arrest, the communist journalist was forced to leave for the Soviet Union. But in 1936 he returned to his homeland. Firstly, he did not want and could not stay away from the struggle, and secondly, he had a beloved there - Augusta Kodericheva. Later, this woman will become known as Gustina Fuchikova. Also, like Julius, she will be destined to go through the fascist dungeons. But she will survive, and thanks to her, "Report with a noose around the neck" will reach people all over the world …
In 1939, the Czech Republic was occupied by the Nazis. The communists had to go deep underground. At the very beginning of the occupation, the Nazis offered Fucik cooperation for money and, most importantly, for security. He refused and was forced to hide, wander around different cities, parting with his wife for a long time. But at the same time he fought with the invaders with the weapon that he had - his pen. Comrades offered him to leave for the USSR, since he was wanted - he refused.
“We, Czech musicians, artists, writers, engineers, we, who were forcibly shut their mouths by your censorship, we, whose hands are tied by your terror, we, whose comrades experience inhuman suffering in your prisons and concentration camps, we, the Czech intelligentsia, answer you, Minister Goebbels! Never - do you hear? - we will never betray the revolutionary struggle of the Czech people, we will never go to your service, we will never serve the forces of darkness and enslavement! -
he declared on behalf of his brethren in an "Open Letter to Minister Goebbels," which was circulated like a leaflet.
Several times Julius Fucik was on the verge of arrest, and only a miracle saved. Once, in 1940, a gendarme came to the house where he was with his wife. Gustina opened the door. She tried to lie that Julius was not there, but failed to deceive him. The case ended with Fucik succeeding in winning over the gendarme to himself with a simple question: "Will your conscience allow you, a Czech, to arrest a Czech on the orders of the German Gestapo?" The gendarme warned that Julius needed to leave immediately, and he himself reported to his superiors that he had not found him. Later, this gendarme joined the Communist Party.
They came to Gustina and several more times, trampled books, searched the house, threatened, but Julius was far away. Unfortunately, on April 24, 1942, Fucik was arrested. This happened due to the fact that a secret agent of the Gestapo turned out to be at the factory where the anti-fascists were distributing leaflets. This was the beginning of the chain of arrests, which eventually led to the Jelinek family, from whom Julius was hiding. He had fake documents, so at first the Nazis did not even realize that they had got into the hands of the very journalist whom they had been looking for for a long time.
Then the terrible began. A few hours later, Gustina was also arrested. She was shown her brutally beaten husband, and she had to, restraining her emotions, say: "I don't know him." But due to the betrayal of one of the unstable comrades, the personality of Fucik nevertheless became known to the Nazis.
“He stood in the corner, in a ring of armed Gestapo men, but he was not a defeated one, but a winner! The eyes said: "You can kill me, but you cannot kill the idea for which I fought, for which I was tortured …", -
Gustina, a survivor in the Gestapo prisons and camps, will write later in her memoirs.
The most tragic and most heroic period has come for the journalist-wrestler. Subjected to monstrous beatings, he did not betray any of his comrades. Sometimes he was taken around Prague to show life in freedom: here, they say, it continues. This torture of the temptation of freedom was also not easy to bear.
Whenever Fucik had at least some piece of paper and a stub of a pencil, he wrote some notes. But, of course, this is hard in prison. Once one of the guards asked sympathetically if Julius wanted something. He asked for paper.
It turned out that this warden, Adolf Kalinsky, was in fact a Czech patriot. He managed to deceive the Nazis: he passed himself off as a German and got a job in such an unattractive position to help the prisoners. Thanks to him, Fucik got not only paper, but also the opportunity to take "Reportage with a noose around his neck" outside the prison. This is how Julius described the meeting:
“The guard in the SS uniform who let me into the cell searched my pockets just for show.
Slowly he asked:
- How are you doing?
- I do not know. They said they would be shot tomorrow.
- Did it scare you?
- I'm ready for this.
With a habitual gesture, he quickly felt the floors of my jacket.
- It is possible that they will do so. Maybe not tomorrow, later, maybe nothing will happen at all … But at such times it is better to be ready …
And again he fell silent.
- Maybe … you do not want to transfer something to freedom? Or write something? It will come in handy. Not now, of course, but in the future: how did you get here, did anyone betray you, how who behaved … So that what you know does not perish with you …
Do I want to write? He guessed my most ardent desire"
"Report with a noose around the neck" ends at the date of 9.6.43. Then Fucik was taken to Berlin. After a fleeting fascist trial, the prisoner was executed. It happened on September 8, 1943 in the Ploetzensee prison.
After the Victory over fascism, this courageous man was awarded (posthumously) the International Peace Prize. And his main Report has been translated into 80 languages.
However, after the "velvet revolution" in Czechoslovakia, they tried to slander and slander Fucik. For example, one of the questions that liberal whistleblowers were publicly asked sounded very cynical: why did he not shoot himself when he was arrested? But Fucik himself described the moment of the arrest in his very own Report: he could neither shoot at the enemies, nor shoot himself, because other people would have died:
“… Nine revolvers aimed at two women and three unarmed men. If I shoot, they will die first of all. If they shoot themselves, they will still fall prey to the rising gunfire. If I do not shoot, they will sit for six months or a year until the uprising, which will free them. Only Mirek and I will not be saved, we will be tortured"
In addition, they tried to accuse the anti-fascist of cooperation with the Gestapo and even of the fact that it was not he who wrote the "Report with a noose around his neck". However, all this is familiar to us - we also had the same attempts to "expose" the heroes and outstanding people of the Soviet era. And, unfortunately, they continue to this day.
When the slander against Fucik was unsuccessful, they tried to consign his name to oblivion. But his words, spoken in the face of death: are known, perhaps, to every educated person. And the anniversary of his execution - September 8 - is still the Day of International Solidarity of Journalists.
