Vladimír Vaněk a jeho vzpomínky Moje válečná odysea
Vladimír Vaněk and his Memoirs Moje válečná odysea

Summary/Abstract: In his book Moje valečná odysea (My War-Time Odyssey, 1925), Vladimír Vaněk (1895–1965) recorded his memories from pre-war Ukraine and from the battles of the First World War. He witnessed the foundation of volunteer troops in Kiev, fought on the Galician front, served as a spy and a contact for the home resistance in Prague and, finally, cooperated with the political resistance in the West. Some of his memories found their way into his other literary works, most notably the novel Jorden blöder – jorden blommar (1943, The Land Is Bleeding – The Land Is Blooming). The experience from the First World War proved useful in later years, too. As a participant in the armed as well as the political resistance, Vaněk considered the First World War to be an indispensable prerequisite to the foundation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic, but he also described the cruelty of the war and questioned its moral justification.

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