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ARNOŠT LUSTIG

To mark the centenary of Arnošt Lustig’s birth, Masaryk University Press is publishing an exceptional collection of previously unknown short stories, reports, and essays under the title Three from Jerusalem. For the first time, the volume brings together the early work of this internationally acclaimed writer, journalist, and humanist. Two of the stories later became the basis for novels written many years afterward, and the story Three from Jerusalem gives the entire book its name.

Arnošt Lustig (1926–2011) survived the horrors of the Holocaust as a young man – experiences that profoundly shaped his literary work. The short stories in this volume were written while he was working as a war correspondent during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948–1949. Alongside narratives set in Israel, the book also includes essays and reportage reflecting on the periods of the Holocaust and exile.

What unites all the texts is their focus on the inner lives and emotions of ordinary people living under extreme existential pressure. Lustig portrays his characters in both critical and everyday moments, always marked by hardship. His prose is accessible and deeply humane, combining dramatic intensity with clarity and restraint, free of pathos – a style that would become characteristic of his later work. In these texts, Lustig offers empathy and timeless wisdom that remains strikingly relevant today.

In an extensive introductory essay, the author’s daughter, Eva Lustigová, describes both Arnošt Lustig’s development as a writer and the genesis of the book itself. The volume is published in Czech and English, in a translation by Gabriela Sharma Kumar and edited by Myra Goldberg and Lea Novotná, with graphic design by Trixi Korbačková. The texts are sensitively accompanied by original illustrations created by students of the College and Secondary School of Industrial Arts in Šumperk.

The publication is part of a jubilee edition of Arnošt Lustig’s fiction and non‑fiction, and of the FestivAL100 programme organized by the Arnošt Lustig Foundation. The event is held under the auspices of the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, along with other renowned institutions. From autumn 2025 to the end of 2026, it will celebrate Lustig’s legacy across ten countries on four continents, offering a rich, multi‑genre programme that introduces new generations of readers, viewers, students, and educators to the writer’s humanistic, literary, and cinematic heritage.