The Sixth Battalion, On Guard! (Šiesty prápor, na stráž!)

Abstract

About the Author: Emil F. Knieža’s (1920–1990) original name was Emil Fürst (the German Fürst means Knieža in Slovak). He came from a Slovak-Jewish family in Eastern Slovakia (Nacina Ves near Michalovce). During World War II, he was forced to serve in the 6th Battalion of the Slovak Army, in the so-called “labour company” (see also Leopold Lahola). From 1943 he fought in the Jegorov Partisan Brigade against the Nazis. After his graduation from high school in Bratislava (1945), he worked as a journalist in daily newspapers and as an editor in a publishing house. Later he was the director of the Municipal Library in Bratislava. His first short stories were published in 1957. In 1962, he became a professional writer. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968, Knieža emigrated to Switzerland where he lived in Benglen and worked in a bookstore. Knieža published articles about Jewish culture, antisemitism and Zionism in Slovak as well as in other languages. He translated two of Sholem Aleichem’s literary works, Tevye, the Dairyman and his Daughters (1959) andWandering Stars (1962, in cooperation of Marta Ličková) from Yiddish into Slovak.