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Memoirs. If you serve your country, don’t expect a reward

Karel Engliš

Compiled and edited by: Martin Hlaváč, Pavel Lhota, František Plhoň, Vít Pokorný, Alena Mizerová, Jakub Kunert,

Karel Engliš started writing his memoirs in 1925, when he was 45 years old, and he worked on them intermittently until the end of his life in 1961. This resulted in the creation of several comprehensive thematic collections. It is therefore not a classic biography. However, this is what makes the book unique and special. It allows us to witness how Engliš dealt with different subjects over the years, and what he considered necessary to comment on, to record. The book provides the reader with an opportunity to recognize Engliš’s keen observational talent and extraordinary memory. Despite a gap of decades, Karel Engliš can describe events and personalities in such detail, as if he experienced or saw them just yesterday.

From these texts written almost forty years ago, the reader will be struck by Engliš’s defining character traits: directness, truthfulness. He himself writes: ‘I speak the truth of what I think, no matter what wrath I may bring down upon myself. That's how I did it for the whole 80 years’. His kindness, tolerance, extraordinary diligence, well-organized thoughts and sense of humour are moving and impressive.

The publication is published in cooperation with Masarykův ústav and Archiv AV ČR, with financial support from Moravskoslezský kraj, Státní fond kultury ČR, Česká národní banka and Karel Engliš's family.

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