Jan Sviták

Jan Sviták a adăugat o fotografie

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Jan

Jan Sviták (23 December 1898 – 11 May 1945) was a Czech actor and film director. He was an important exponent of Czechoslovak film in the interwar period and during World War II. Sviták was murdered shortly after the liberation of Prague in 1945.

Jan Sviták a adăugat o fotografie

acum 3 luni

R.I.P
Jan

Early life Sviták was born in Plzeň, where his father worked as a clerk for the Škoda Plzeň company. During World War I, he studied at the Naval School in Pula and joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy. He was a crewman on the battleship SMS Wien, which was sunk on 10 December 1917. Sviták was not physically harmed in the catastrophe, and soon after, he was awarded the Bravery Medal but the sinking was a traumatic experience. It permanently marked his life, particularly his underlying attitudes and mental state. With the end of the War and the establishment of the Czechoslovak State, he devoted himself to the theatre. He was engaged as an actor by travelling theatre companies and went on perform in the theatres in Olomouc, Ostrava, and Bratislava (as an ensemble member of the Slovak National Theatre), and at the National Theatre in Prague. His performances drew positive responses. Several Austrian critics remarked his acting talents during his engagement in Vienna. In the 1930s, he was engaged by the theatre owned by the interwar Czechoslovak film and theatre star, Vlasta Burian. Sviták took his first film parts in the late 1920s. His first roles in this silent era were…Citește mai mult

Jan Sviták a adăugat o fotografie

acum 3 luni

R.I.P
Jan

Death On 10 May 1945, in the first days after the liberation of Prague, a group led by one of Sviták's closest collaborators in office broke into Sviták's flat and took him for interrogation at the police station in Bartolomějská Street. He was detained there overnight but was released the following morning, only to fall into the hands of a "fanatical mob" bent on revenge. He was dragged to the front of the Church of St. Martin in the Wall. Half-naked and scared, Sviták faced the attacks of the crowd, among them some of his erstwhile colleagues. A passing Soviet soldier noticed the lynching and asked what was going on. People shouted that Sviták deserved death as a traitor and Nazi informer who had denounced Hašler and others. The soldier shot Sviták in the head. After several hours, Sviták's wife found his dead body lying on the street. He was buried in Plzeň. Later, the Czech journalist Stanislav Motl attempted to gather the facts about Sviták's war activities and death in the book Mraky nad Barrandovem. However, the circumstances of his death and his alleged collaboration with Nazis were never properly investigated. The Czech director Otakar Vávra later commented: "It…Citește mai mult

Jan Sviták a adăugat o fotografie

acum 3 luni

R.I.P
Jan

Štvaní lidé (1933) The Mystery of the Blue Room (1933)