Ján Mlynárik
Ján Mlynárik (11 February 1933 – 26 March 2012) was a Czech and Slovak historian and dissident,
Charter 77 signatory, and member of the Federal Assembly from 1990 to 1992 as a representative of Public
Against Violence.[1][2]
Contents
Life
Works
Documentary
References
Life
Mlynárik was born on 11 February 1933 in Fiľakovo, Slovakia, the son of a blacksmith, in straitened
circumstances. His family moved to Zelené, in the former Sudetenland, which led to Mlynárik's interest in
the expulsion of Sudeten Germans.[1][3] In 1957, he graduated from Faculty of Arts, Charles University in
Prague, going on to teach history at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Through the end of the
1960s, his historical work focused on Slovakia in the interwar era. By 1964, he was considered non-
conformist, which led to a rebuke from president Antonín Novotný. Because he condemned the Warsaw
Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he was dismissed from his job and expelled from the Communist
Party of Czechoslovakia.[1][4] Mlynárik worked for the National Theatre in Prague and at Slavia Café.
Along with another Slovak intellectual, Dominik Tatarka, Mlynárik was one of the first people to sign
Charter 77. He also wrote for samizdat publications.[1][4][3]
In 1978, he published an article in Pavel Tigrid's banned Svědectví magazine (under the pseudonym
"Danubius"), in which he condemned the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, comparing it to
population transfer in the Soviet Union and Nazi deportation of Jews. Mlynárik was one of the first
Czechoslovak authors to write about the expulsions, which were a taboo subject, and Mlynárik's article
sparked extensive debate in the magazine. The StB hunted down "Danubius" and discovered his real
identity.[5][3] In 1981, Mlynárik was caught trying to smuggle his historical archive and documents on the
charter out of the country, and he was arrested. He was imprisoned without trial at Ruzyně Prison for
thirteen months, and later said that witnessing the mistreatment of other detainees led him to develop
diabetes and other health problems. In 1982, he was forced to emigrate to Germany, as part of a larger effort
to force Charter 77 signatories into exile. In Germany, Mlynárik worked as a journalist for Radio Free
Europe, the BBC, and Deutschlandfunk.[4][1][5]
After the Velvet Revolution, Mlynárik returned to Prague. In 1990, he was elected to the Federal Assembly
as a representative of Public Against Violence. He advocated for all Communist-confiscated property to be
returned to its original owners, due to his belief that a democratic and free society must respect property
rights.[1] Mlynárik also sued another Slovak representative, Stanislav Pánis of the Slovak National Party, for
organizing a rally celebrating the anniversary of foundation of the Slovak State on 14 March 1991. President
Václav Havel appeared at the rally and was assaulted by Slovak nationalists, some of whom were wearing
Hlinka Guard uniforms or carrying banners praising Jozef Tiso. According to Mlynárik, Pánis' organization
of the rally amounted to promotion of fascism because the Slovak State regime was a "totalitarian power
which unleashed a genocide of Jews, and persecution and murders of Slovak patriots who resisted Nazism".
According to Mlynárik, the prosecutor did not know what "fascism" was and requested that Mlynárik give
him a lecture. A month later the case was dropped.[6] After his term expired in 1992, Mlynárik continued to
publish and lecture,[1] heading the Department of Slovak Studies at Charles University.[4] In 1993, he
became the chairman of Union of Slovaks in the Czech Republic.[1] Until his death, he edited the periodical
Slovenské rozhľady (Slovak Views).[4]
Works
Mlynárik's book Dějiny židů na Slovensku ("History of the Jews in Slovakia", 2005) received positive
reviews with two reviewers noting that Mlynárik was sympathetic to his subject.[7][8]
Documentary
Mlynárik was the subject of a documentary, Lyrik by Arnold Kojnok, which premiered at Febiofest in
2014.[3][9]
References
1. Žitný, Milan (17 June 2012). "Ján Mlynárik, alias Danubius, dopsal poslední list" (https://ceskap
ozice.lidovky.cz/tema/jan-mlynarik-alias-danubius-dopsal-posledni-list.A120330_230500_pozic
e_62186). Lidové noviny. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
2. "Zomrel historik slovenských a českých dejín, politik Ján Mlynárik" (https://www.teraz.sk/impor
t/zomrel-historik-slovenskych-a-ceskych/2932-clanok.html). TERAZ.sk. 27 March 2012.
Retrieved 8 March 2020.
3. "Danubius, Lyrik, Mlynárik" (https://www.tyzden.sk/casopis/15386/danubius-lyrik-mlyn-rik/).
.týždeň - iný pohľad na spoločnosť (in Slovak). 13 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
4. Piško, Michal. "Ján Mlynárik: Slovenský chartista provokoval Prahu" (https://domov.sme.sk/c/6
320539/jan-mlynarik-slovensky-chartista-provokoval-prahu.html). SME (newspaper) (in
Slovak). Retrieved 10 April 2020.
5. Neubauer, John; Török, Borbála Zsuzsanna (2009). The Exile and Return of Writers from East-
Central Europe: A Compendium (https://books.google.com/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC&pg=PA
274&dq=pavel+Tigrid&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUvozPwNzo
AhUCo54KHRmRANoQ6AEwAXoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=pavel%20Tigrid&f=false). Walter
de Gruyter. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-3-11-021773-5.
6. Cohen, Shari J. (1999). Politics Without a Past: The Absence of History in Postcommunist
Nationalism (https://books.google.com/books?id=KeUmrcKpdmEC&pg=PA275&lpg=PA275&d
q=J%C3%A1n+Mlyn%C3%A1rik+StB&source=bl&ots=KumZJPUCwh&sig=ACfU3U3fza5Z4eT
M0mpHFNbwtqQaUk7Icw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJxd3ShN3oAhWTop4KHU1OAqMQ6
AEwAXoECAsQKw#v=onepage&q=J%C3%A1n%20Mlyn%C3%A1rik&f=false). Duke
University Press. pp. 157–158. ISBN 978-0-8223-2399-0.
7. Mandler, Emanuel (2005). "Dějiny Židů na Slovensku" (https://vesmir.cz/cz/casopis/archiv-caso
pisu/2005/cislo-10/dejiny-zidu-slovensku.html). Vesmír (84): 621.
8. Franek, Jaro (23 August 2011). "Kniha, na ktorú sa čakalo: Priekopnícke Dějiny Židov na
Slovensku" (https://www.holocaust.cz/zdroje/clanky-z-ros-chodese/ros-chodes-2005/kveten-6/
kniha-na-ktoru-sa-cakalo/). www.holocaust.cz (in Slovak).
9. "Lyrik" (https://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/archiv/7021). Radio and Television of Slovakia (in Slovak).
Retrieved 11 April 2020.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ján_Mlynárik&oldid=954047017"
This page was last edited on 30 April 2020, at 11:47 (UTC).
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