The Good Soldier Švejk

Jan Vaněk was arguably the most obvious of all the prototypes of characters in The Good Soldier Švejk.

The Who's who page on Jaroslav Hašek presents a gallery of people from real life who, to varying degrees, are associated with The Good Soldier Švejk and its creator. Several of the characters in the novel are known to be based on real-life individuals, mostly officers from Infanterieregiment Nr. 91. Some of Hašek's literary figures carry the full names of their models, some are only thinly disguised, and some names diverge from that of their "model", but they can be identified by analysing the circumstances in which they appear.

A handful of "prototypes" are easily recognisable, like Rudolf Lukas and Jan Vaněk; others, like Zdeněk Matěj Kuděj and Emanuél Michálek, are less obvious inspirations. One would also assume that most of these characters borrow traits from more than one person; one such example is Švejk himself.

A far larger number of assumed prototypes are connected to their literary counterparts by little more than the name. Josef Švejk is the prime example here, but Jan Eybl also fits in this category. The list of prototypes only contains those who inspired characters that directly take part in the plot.

Researchers, the so-called Haškologists, are also included on this page, but as of 15 February 2026 the list is restricted to Radko Pytlík and Václav Menger, plus two important but relatively unknown contributors to our knowledge about Hašek and Švejk. In due course, entries on other experts like Zdena Ančík may be added.