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The Good Soldier Švejk

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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 persons from real life who to a varying degree are associated with The Good Soldier Švejk and his creator. Several of the characters in the novel are known to be based on real-life people, mostly officers from Infanterieregiment Nr. 91. Some of Hašek's literary figures carry the full names of their model, some are only thinly disguised and some names diverge from that of their "model", but they can be pinpointed by analyzing 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 here the prime example, 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 this list is per 15 June 2022 restricted to Radko Pytlík and two important but relatively unknown contributors to our knowledge about Hašek and Švejk. In due course entries on other experts like Václav Menger and Zdena Ančík will be added.


Kuděj, Zdeněk Matěj
*24.11.1881 Hořice - †8.8.1955 Litomyšl
Search Švejkův slovník
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Family picture from around 1895

© Michal Giacintov

Kuděj - that he is included in the collection of prototypes of figures in The Good Soldier Švejk may raise a few eyebrows. The justification is mainly that he served as an inspiration for some of the events in the first book, but also that Kuděj was arguably Hašek’s closest friend and surely passed on other details that may eventually have appeared in the novel. Kuděj is also an important source of information about Hašek in general as he wrote three books about their travel adventures and also left considerable unpublished material in the custody of Zdena Ančík. This material is today stored in the archive of Památník národního písemnictví and was in 2018 (in part) edited and published in book form by Miloš Doležal. The two Czech authors knew each other from about 1909, then travelled together in 1913 and 1914, and renewed the contact after Hašek returned from Russia in 1920. The latter is important with regards to The Good Soldier Švejk: Kuděj was in close contact with Hašek during the creation of the novel, and certain fragments were no doubt inspired by him.

Early life
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Matrika narozených, Hořice, 1876-1884 (Birth record)

Born in Hořice on 24 November 1881, Kuděj (real name Zdeněk Marián) was the son of building engineer Jan Kuděj (born 1841, Drahenický Málkov by Blatná) and Božena (born Fiebrigová, 1850 in Bakov nad Jizerou). His father was employed at the railways, and at the time of Zdeněk’s birth he worked on construction of the line Hradec Králové - Ostroměř.

From 1883 the family lived in Vinohrady and Prague, and in 1900 they moved to Příbram. Kuděj was the fourth of six children and the police records show them living at no less than 7 different addresses in Vinohrady. The children were: Jan (1878), Arnošt (1879), Václav (1880), Zdeněk (1881), Ludmila (1889) and Ružena (1893). In 1888 a tragedy hit the family when eight-year-old Václav died from heart failure. Father Jan died in 1900 and this is presumably the reason why the family moved.

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Kuděj mischievously advises readers who are curious about his stays abroad to read his books. Vlastní životopis, fond Zdena Ančík

© LA-PNP

Kuděj attended gymnasium (secondary school) in Vinohrady (c. k. státní gymnázium na Král. Vinohradech) and Příbram but left after six years when he failed the exams. The Austrian gymnasium education started at the age of eleven, so he must have left school in 1898 (unless he had to retake some years). He then worked as an apprentice chemist in Pacov and Sadská.

According to his own autobiography, his work as a chemist lasted for four years, then he left his homeland. He is remarkably terse on what he was doing abroad and advises, whoever may be curious, to read his books. Those who followed his advice will however have been misinformed as army files and ship registers reveal a glaring discrepancy between the actual world and his own account.

K.k. Landwehr
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Unter-Abheilungs-Grundbuchsblatt

© VÚA

When he was 21 he was enlisted as a conscript in k.k. Landwehr (lit. Country Guard, the territorial army of Cisleithanien). After having been accepted as fit for armed service in April, he was enrolled on 1 Oktober 1902. His home unit was k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7 from Pilsen, but for unknown reasons he was transferred to k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 6 in Eger (now Cheb) only five days later. His rank was initially Infanterist and on 1 March 1903, he was appointed Schützen (rifleman). On 11 May 1904, he was transferred back to k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7, and his service in Landwehr ended on 1 September 1904.

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Transkription dank Doris und Gert Kerschbaumer

© VÚA

Compulsory service in k.k. Landwehr lasted for two years (as opposed to three years in k.u.k. Heer). The men however remained in the reserve until they were 32, and had to report for periodic "Waffenübungen" (weapons exercises). These exercises lasted for four weeks and Kuděj took part in 1905, 1909, 1911 and 1913.

On 20 January 1906, his rank was changed to Blessiertenträger (carrier of wounded). Thereafter he disappears from the records until he surfaces again after having participated in the August 1909 exercise. Otherwise his Unterabtheilungs-Grundbuchsblatt reveals that he was 164 centimetres tall and that his shoe size was 14. He had grey eyes and a long face and was slightly narrow-chested. His right of domicile was in Drahenický Málkov, okres Strakonice. He is described as a quiet, modest, and indifferent person. In his service, he is characterised as keen, obedient, and well educated as an infantryman. He spoke "Böhmisch" and some "Deutsch".

Going abroad
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Passenger list "Graf Waldersee", Hamburg 17 March 1906

© Staatsarchiv Hamburg

Sometime after 9 September 1905 (he finished the k.k. Landwehr "Waffenübung" that day) he travelled to Germany. Kuděj later wrote that he wanted to see the ocean, and after a prolonged period of wandering, he went to Hamburg. In a "wild hazard joint in the Altona district", he won a large amount that he exchanged for a first-class ticket to New York, on "Hrabě Waldersee". Here he planned to stay for only two weeks as his money would otherwise run out.

Passenger lists
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Passenger list, "Graf Waldersee", New York, 29 March 1906.

© The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation

Two passenger lists describing his journey are available. The first is from the port authority in Hamburg, the second from the US Immigration authorities at Ellis Island (New York).

From the passenger lists of Graf Waldersee, many details are revealed. The vessel set off from Cuxhaven on 17 March 1906 and passengers were registered in New York on the 29th. The list submitted to the US immigration authorities is quite detailed. Kuděj is entered as a 25-year-old male, single, resident in Prag (sic), occupation chemist, an Austrian citizen of Bohemian ethnicity, travelling 2nd class. His immediate destination was Chicago where he was going to visit someone he knew (or a relative). He was in possession of 100 dollars but didn't have an onwards ticket. For good measures, it is revealed that he was neither a polygamist nor an anarchist, and he had never been in prison. He was literate, did not suffer from any diseases and had never previously visited the United States.

The corresponding passenger list from Hamburg confirms the name of the ship and some other items, but is less detailed than the New York equivalent and even gets Kuděj’s age wrong (as 28 years instead of 25). S.S. Graf Waldersee was operated by Hamburg-America Linie and travelled via Boulogne.

Dramatic crossing
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The Evening World, 29.3.1906

Newspapers published the movements of ocean steamers, so dates from the journey are available. On 18 March Graf Waldersee stopped at ports of Dover and Boulogne in English Channel. The next day it passed The Lizard (Cornwall) (from Washington Post, The Guardian) and thus entered open sea. On 28 March the ship cleared Sandy Hook (New Jersey) and arrived at Ellis Island the same day.

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Ellis Island immigration station, 1905

Details from the journey were reported by The Evening World on 29 March 1906. Already from Hamburg, the ship had been in a race with Rhein from Bremen, a competition that the latter eventually won. The weather had been good, apart from the 25th when fog set in. On 21 March a 16-year-old passenger died, on the day that captain Albert Krech celebrated his 56th birthday. Later three babies died, two of them from a peculiar rash, a symptom that many third-class passengers suffered from.

Graf Waldersee carried 2,573 third-class passengers and all the dead were amongst these, and they were buried at sea. Many third-class passengers were therefore quarantined at Hoffman Island with the suspicion of smallpox. That day was the biggest rush of immigrants ever seen in New York, all in all, 12,283 passengers arrived at Ellis Island that day and half of them were young girls.

Contradictions
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Kuděj would have known these offices

Denní hlasatel, 1.5.1916

All known literature on Kuděj, be it in books, newspaper articles or websites, contradict the above-mentioned army file and the passenger lists. This even includes the reputable Slovník české literatury po roce 1945 that states that Kuděj was dismissed from the army during his first-time service because he feigned madness (as of 2019). This is obviously not true, as he served out the compulsory two-year term with k.k. Landwehr.

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Actor František Kovářík lived in the US from 1903 to 1908 and become a friend of Kuděj there. The picture is from 1908.

In the story Malý cestopis he describes his travels in North America in some detail. The first part of the story doesn’t make sense as he claimed to have visited San Francisco shortly after the earthquake. That he should have reached California such a short time after arriving in New York on 29 March 1906 is impossible considering that the earthquake struck on 18 April 1906. Moreover, he implausibly claims to have been to Cleveland, Alabama, Seattle and other places in between. This makes one suspect that at least parts of his impressive itinerary are fictional.

The source of the legend about his 6-year stay is no doubt Kuděj himself as he mentioned it in Malý cestopis and also in an interview with Světozor in 1941. Presumably, the story about him being dismissed from the army due to feigned madness also originates from himself. There is in general little confirmatory evidence about his life before 1918 so we are mostly left to rely on the author's own writing and what he told others (for what it is worth). This is particularly the case when it comes to his sojourns abroad. In his “Small travel tale” there is another lie, albeit a minor one: he actually travelled 2nd class[1] on Graf Waldersee, not 1st class as he claimed himself.

Apart from his arrival in New York on 27 March 1906, there are no confirmed dates regarding his stay in the New World. There is however no reason to doubt his account that he returned to Europe in 1909, as he took part in k.k. Landwehr exercises in August that year. In his stories, he mentions November in connection with Alabama so that indicates 1906. He also mentions a US financial crisis that triggered him to leave Chicago for Canada. This fits with the “Panic of 1907” that took place in October that year. He also mentions a gold rush in Oregon, but no such occurrence seems to have taken place between 1906 and 1909. Finally, he writes that he arrived in Akron (Ohio) in freezing cold, so presumably, we are now in the winter of 1908-1909 as he from there set off for New York to travel back home.

Richard Šimanovský and the actor František Kovářík (1886-1984) both knew Kuděj from America but it is not known if they ever provided any firm evidence on where he was and what he was up to. Other possible sources for backup proof are the Chicago newspapers Denní hlasatel and Spravedlnost and the farmers weekly Domácnost in Milwaukee, but these have yet to be investigated (as of 2021).

Sidney Godday
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"Konsuláty"

Světozor, 27.3.1914

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"Bidné dny"

Zlatá Praha, 22.9.1911

In America he assumed the name Sidney Goodday that phonetically resembled his real name. During his three years in the New World, he travelled the continent and his experiences were later reflected in his literary output.

One example is the book Bidné dny (Miserable Days), first published in Zlatá Praha as a seven-part series (22.9 to 3 November 1911). The story starts in November (year unspecified) where the I person and his friend Frank work on a railway construction site in Alabama together with convicts who are hired in. They soon decide to get away and head back to Chicago and set off as blind passengers on a train towards Bismarck (IL) before eventually reaching Chicago after some turbulent experiences. How much of this is based in reality is hard to say, but we should assume that at least the geographical context is factual.

In her doctoral thesis Kateřina Křenová (2004) states that it is problematic to trace Kuděj's movements in North America, as there seems to be no second-hand information confirming his version. His story "Malý cestopis" (A small travel tale) does however provide a complete but non-dated North American itinerary. It was published in the book Dobrodružné cestování in 1959, but we don’t know when the author originally penned the story. It appears to be in his later years as he mentions his youthful irresponsibility, and a few sections seem to adhere to the jargon of the ruling Communist regime, indicating it may have been written after 1948.

US itinerary, in his own words
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Places visited. Based on "Malý cestopis" (1959)

This is a summary of his movements in North America, according to Malý cestopis (1959). After arriving in New York in the spring of 1903 (sic) he used his last dollars to buy a train ticket to Chicago. Here he undertook various short-term jobs, amongst them cleaning intestines in a slaughterhouse. Thereafter his whereabouts in the United States and Canada can be classed into six distinct parts.

  1. On invitation from his cousin, he left for Cleveland where he took a job in a medicine factory. From here the journey went to Detroit where he was robbed and eventually ended up in prison. Then he returned to Chicago utterly destitute, and on foot.
  2. He had no option but to enlist for railway construction in Alabama. The conditions were harsh, many of the workers were convicts. When not getting paid he and a Czech friend decided to escape and succeeded to get back to Chicago via Evansville. The experience is also described in the story "Bidné dny", printed as a series in Světozor as early as 1911, in 1913 it was published as a book.
  3. After spending some time in Chicago he set out on an impressive journey to the west, eventually reaching Seattle, going by boat to San Francisco before ending up in Galveston by the Gulf of Mexico, travelling via Salt Lake City, Denver and Dallas.
  4. In Galveston he took hire on a ship that travelled along the coast all the way to New York, stopping en route in New Orleans, Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah, Philadelphia a.o.
  5. Leaving the ship he travelled back to Chicago, mainly on the Mississippi River.
  6. The final big journey was triggered by an economic crisis that hit the USA. Setting off to the Canadian province of Saskatchewan he tried his hand at farming in the far north by the lakes, but gave up, continued to Alberta, then allegedly tried his luck as a gold digger in Oregon, heading east again via Yellowstone, St. Louis, Ohio before reaching New York and Boston. Here he became ill but eventually managed to head home to Europe on a boat carrying cattle.
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Světozor, 21.11.1941

Kuděj was interviewed by Světozor in connection with his 60th birthday (1941) and here he claims to have been present during the San Francisco earthquake, that he took part in the construction of the Panama Canal, that he stayed in the Americas for six years and returned to Europe in 1909 and then took a job at the chemical factory Hartmann in Berlin. He also states that prior to departing for America he worked in chemical factories in Germany but didn’t stay there long. About his stay in Russia, he said he was locked up there in 1912 for six months before being expelled.

The journey home
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"Domů"

Světozor, 11.4.1917

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From "Ships of our Ancestors"

© Michael J. Anuta, 1983

For information about Kuděj's return to Europe, we are again left to rely on the author's own words. The story "Domů" describes how he travelled from the United States to England. The steamer Satchem, carrying cattle and passengers from Boston, arrived in Liverpool and then he travelled by train across England to Grimsby where he left for Rotterdam. The story ends before they reach Rotterdam when his young friend Tomáš gets lost at sea. It seems that Kuděj had already worked on Satchem before leaving for Europe, as he knew the shipping agent in Boston who hired him as a cattleman for the journey. Later Kuděj wrote that he returned "in the company of around 700 bulls and members of other nationalities".

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Boston Globe, 19.3.1909

The ship Kuděj refers to is very likely S.S. Sachem, a steamship of 5,204 tons, constructed in 1893 by Harland and Wolff and in 1909 operated by Warren Line. This ship sailed the route Boston-Liverpool and was a multi-purpose freighter that often transported livestock to England. Sachem was registered in Liverpool. Later the vessel was rebuilt as a passenger carrier and continued service until 1927 when she was finally scrapped.

In 1909 she had nine registered arrivals in Boston from Liverpool. The passenger lists consist almost entirely of cattlemen. The full list of outgoing dates and corresponding crew/passenger lists are not yet available, but some information can be extracted from Boston Globe and The Guardian. One of the departures was on 20 March 1909 at 10 A.M. and the steamer carried 1002 sheep, 911 cattle, as well as corn, flour, cotton and beef. Boston Globe also informs that the captain was A.W. Murdoch and the ship was not filled to her capacity.

Confirmed dates of 1909 departures where Kuděj could have travelled are 2 January, 7 February, 20 March, 27 June. There was also departures in early May and in July but the exact dates are not known. We do however know that the May transport passed Old Head of Kinsale (Ireland) on 18 May and arrived in Liverpool on the 19th. The July transport arrived in Liverpool on the 23rd. This is the last possible date that Kuděj could have arrived in England because he took part in k.k. Landwehr exercises soon after. These started on 9 August 1909 so most likely he travelled on one of the earlier transports.

In the story "Konsuláty" he describes the rest of his journey back home. It starts in England where Kuděj had worked on a fishing boat that eventually arrived in Grimsby. From there he went to Rotterdam where he jumped on the train. He mentions Osnabrück, but here the story ends. This has probably been on the way to Berlin. In the Berlin branch of Sokol a certain Arnošt Kuděj worked, and this may have been his elder brother.

Back home
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Národní listy, 26.6.1910

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Pokrok západu, 5.12.1917

Some time in 1909 Kuděj arrived in his homeland, and again he took part in the k.k. Landwehr exercises, now from 9 August to 5 September 1909. Soon after his return he started to associate with writers and other intellectuals and became a friend of Jaroslav Hašek, Josef Lada, Franta Sauer, Gustav R. Opočenský, Emil Artur Longen a.o.

He had his first story published in Národní listy on 26 June 1910. The story is called "People from the forest" and is set in the state of Washington. During the next two years, he mainly wrote for Zlatá Praha, a picture and entertainment magazine in the Otto portfolio. Most of the stories were based on his stay in the United States, particularly in Chicago.

Over the next few years his tales appeared in a number of publications, amongst them Venkov, Světozor, Šípy, Smích republiky, Humoristické listy, Besedy lidu, Právo lidu, and Kopřivy. His stories could also be read in Czech-American periodicals like Slavie, Pokrok západu, Svět and Dennice novověku. In the inter-war years, selected stories were translated into German and printed by Prager Presse, probably the only translation of his work that exists. Most stories were later compiled and published as books.

In 1911 and 1913 he took part in the periodic k.k. Landwehr exercises but by now he was 32 years old and could thus bid farewell to compulsory military service (at least in times of peace).

Meeting Hašek
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© LA-PNP

Kuděj relates that he met Hašek for the first time after returning from America, at Havelské náměstí and that the encounter was brief but cordial. They sat down for a drink at U Mrázků, and present were also Sauer, the actor Emil Artur Longen, and poet Arne Laurin (real name Arnošt Lustig). They continued to Montmartre where he also recalls meeting sculptor Štursa, Egon Erwin Kisch, Jan Morávek, Hájek a.o. “From that time I formed a firm friendship with Hašek”, Kuděj recalls in a document he wrote for Zdena Ančík some time after 1948.

In Russia, 1912

In 1912 he travelled to Kiev where he after a few days was arrested because he resembled the assassin of the police director of Tashkent. He allegedly spent 7 months in jail and was then expelled from Russia. His experiences are reflected in his book Hostem u baťušky cara (1914). The exact dates are not available, but the first story with a theme from Russia was published in Zlatá Praha on 20 Desember 1912. There is a period from May to November where none of his stories appear in the magazines he used to write for, so a seven month stay from May to December is plausible. Even the newspaper Pokrok západu (Omaha, Nebraska) printed one of his stories from Russia. This describes his transport back to the Austrian border after he had been expelled.

Kuděj and Hašek, 1913
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Český svět, 5.9.1913

After returning from Russia he and Jaroslav Hašek set out on their first journey together, in the summer of 1913. It was from this trip a photo of them in dressed in ladies bathing gear appeared in Český svět on 5 September 1913. They visited the districts of Berounsko, Křivoklátsko and Plzeňsko. The trip is humorously described in Kuděj's book Ve dvou se to lépe táhne (1923-24).

They set off by train from Prague to Zbuzany, where they stayed only briefly. Onwards they didn't have time to buy a ticket, but still entered the train but ended up in a row with the conductor near Loděnice. From there they went on to Beroun where they stayed overnight, before continuing to Nový Jáchymov. Here the stay was longer, four full days. This is also where the famous picture with the two in ladies bathing custom is taken. The journey continued to Křivoklat and Rakovník where they founded the local branch of Strana mírného pokroku v mezích zákona. The next major stop was Zbiroh and U slunce where the two in the usual manner drank copious quantities of pivo despite being penniless. They were saved by bumping into František Kuděj, the author’s cousin, and it all turned out well.

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U slunce, Zbiroh

© Václav Víšek

The trip onwards to Plzeň led via Rokycany, and on the way there had an encounter with an American couple and also local scouts. In the West Bohemian capital they had more time, and Kuděj even bought a tourist guide, in which the list of pubs was more important than the rest. Hašek knew an editor in the city who owed him money for some stories and after some back and forwards the editor turned up at U Salzmanů where the issue was settled in another drinking binge. They went back to Prague by train, obviously paid for by the editor. They stopped yet again in Zbiroh before getting back home, tired of travelling.

Radko Pytlík identifies the editor in Plzeň as Karel Pelant, but also concludes that the trip took place in 1912. In that case it must have been in May, otherwise it conflicts with the information that Kuděj stayed in Russia for 7 months and was back in December. Pelant is a character known from Strana mírného pokroku v mezích zákona and Hašek wrote him a letter in 1912 that he printed in his newspaper Směr. Pelant was also co-founder of Volná myšlenka and Kuděj mentions him directly in his memoirs.

The dates are difficult to establish, but the trip seem to have been in early summer. It can not have been before mid May as Jaroslav Hašek until then spent some time in Poděbrady. The duration of the trip is difficult to estimate, but 2 to 4 weeks seems a reasonable guess.

Farewell to Landwehr
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"Again I became a soldier...".
letter to Pavel F. Malý, 29 August 1913

© LA-PNP

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Pilsner Tagblatt, 26.8.1913

The excursion must in any case have ended well before 27 August 1913 because Kuděj started his last ever Landwehr-exercise that day. He was back in Rokycany when he two days later wrote a letter to the painter Pavel F. Malý where he stated that "again I became a soldier".

Three days later his regiment was inspected by Landwehr-Oberkommandant Erzherzog Erzherzog Friedrich in Milevsko, taking part in the "Kaisermanövern" around Písek that year. It is altogether tempting to suggest that Kuděj's experiences from manévry might have inspired some of Švejk's anecdotes along the lines of "when I was on manoeuvres in ...". One such example can be found in [IV.1] where Švejk told Oberleutnant Lukáš an anecdote about some archduke at the manoeuvres by Písek.

The author's own experiences was surely not the inspiration for the manoeuvre stories. Jaroslav Hašek never took part in army exercises as he was enlisted as late as 1914. Another part "model" for the Good Soldier, František Strašlipka, was simply to young to have taken part. That said, the author of The Good Soldier Švejk knew a lot of people who could have provided him with stories from manoeuvres. It is for instance unlikely that Kuděj's regiment ever took part in exercises in Velké Meziříčí, Veszprém and Osijek like Švejk's did.

Kuděj and Hašek, 1914
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Světozor, 6.2.1914

During the next winter Kuděj appears on a photo in Světozor, on 6 February 1914. It shows him with Hašek and others breaking ice by U Brejšky. This was during a typographer's strike and journalists and writers had to offset the less of income. The photo gives us another firm date on Kuděj's whereabouts. It was taken on Saturday 17 January 1914.

During spring/early summer of 1914 they again wandered off together, this time to Posázaví. Hašek even mentioned Kuděj in connection with this trip, in the story Český Baedeker (Humoristické listy, 3 July 1914). Radko Pytlík informs that they visited Kamenný přívoz, Ládví, Hrusice, Hoření Kostelec, Týnec, Hvězdonice, Kácov, Ledeč, Dolní Královice, and finally Kutná Hora.

The book also contains many amusing anecdotes about Jaroslav Hašek as editor of the animal magazine Svět zvířat and more detailed than in The Good Soldier Švejk. Kuděj notes in his memoirs that he "lost" Hašek in Kutná Hora and that he returned to Prague in the summer of 1914. At the time he worked in a factory and could afford to rent a flat in the street Na Rybníčku in Praha II..

To the draft-board in a wheelchair
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Dobrý voják Švejk, 1930

The sections covering the World War I is largely based on extracts from Kuděj's unpublished autobiography.

Kuděj was called up for the army immediately on outbreak of war. He was at the time staying with his mother in Příbram due to a severe fit of rheumatism. He still reported at the k.k. Landwehr barracks at Pohořelec but had to be manoeuvred up the hill in a wheelchair, pushed by his brother and sister. This scene undoubtedly served as inspiration for Švejk, and this is acknowledged as such by Miloš Doležal (2018) and Radko Pytlík in Toulavé House as early as 1971.

At the draft board Dr. Sojka[2] allowed him six weeks of leave for recuperation. He returned to Příbram, but after three months he had received no further call-ups and started to become uneasy; that people in this small town might wonder why a man in his best age wasn’t serving the Emperor at the front.

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The barracks of LIR7, Plzeň

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Pilsner Tagblatt, 27.5.1915

He decided to go to Plzeň where he would be more anonymous and also hoped to meet someone who could discreetly investigate at his regiment why he hadn’t been called up. In the meantime the reserve battalion of his unit k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7 had been transferred to Rumburk[3], so that plan seemed doomed. In Plzeň only a registration office remained and here were employed almost exclusively “Germans or renegades”, so after three days he gave up and set off for Prague.

A living corpse from Serbia
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Matěj Kuděj listed as fallen.

Verlustliste, 21.11.1914

On the way to the station he however met an old acquaintance Mleziva who owed him a favour and they sat down in the pub U Spačku to discuss the matter. Mleziva was employed at the Ergänzungsbezirkskommando (Recruitment District Command) and promised to investigate the matter. After two days they met again at the same place and Mleziva could report that Kuděj, according to official documents, had fallen by Šabac in mid September 1914 and this explained why he hadn’t received the expected call-up!

The mix-up in the army files that Kuděj describes seems real enough. One-year volunteer Matěj Kuděj, serving in the same regiment, actually fell on 27 September 1914 in Serbia near Šabac. He was born in 1880 in Vyšíce, very close to where Zdeněk's father came from and may even have been a relative.

In the hinterland
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Akademie, 3.1916

The "living corpse" then set off for Prague where it stayed with friends (Opočenský a.o.), made sure he moved often, and officially registered in Smíchov. He was present when a group of friends took leave with Jaroslav Hašek who in February 1915 left for Infanterieregiment Nr. 91 in Budějovice. On 8 Oktober 1915 he wrote a letter to Jaroslav Hašek, not knowing that the author of The Good Soldier Švejk had been captured two weeks earlier. In the winter of 1916 he received a letter from Jan Vaněk who informed him that the steadfast one year volunteer Jaroslav Hašek, decorated with a small silver medal for bravery, had been captured together with six companies.

That Kuděj was present when Jaroslav Hašek left for Budějovice in February doesn't fit time-wise. He was in his own words investigating why he hadn't been called only after k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7 had been transferred from Plzeň to Rumburk. This happened in May 1915. It is of course possible that he had been on a trip to Prague in February without mentioning it in his memoirs.

From 1915 to 1917 Kuděj published widely, not only stories for magazines, but also a collection of tales from the war Na frontě a doma (At home and at the Front), presumably based on stories he had heard from returning veterans. In his own words he benefited greatly from the lack of competition as many literates had been called up for duty. In 1917 he published the novel Mezí dvěma oceány (Between two oceans) about two friends and their experiences in America. The original version of the book also contains a rare photo of the author in uniform.

Belated call-up
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© Michal Giacintov

The happy days would end though. The state police agent Eduard Kučera had picked up news about Kuděj having had an overnight visitor and the unfortunate host was subjected to a house search led by Mr. Klíma. In addition certain questions were asked and it was no longer possible to avoid the draft. His call-up seems to have occurred in early 1917 as inside the cover of the above-mentioned novel can be seen a picture of him in uniform, dated 20 March 1917.

Contraband in Rumburk

He was escorted to his mother unit, the 7. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment. Again he was hit by rheumatism and thus avoided being sent to the front. He was assigned as a clerk to the regiment's reserve battalion in Rumburk. Another duty he had was escorting recruits to Prague and on these trips he did well from smuggling German-produced cigarettes (Rumburk is on the border in northern Bohemia). One of the trips ended badly and it turned out to be the last one. His Rusyn soldiers accepted some snacks from the good patriotic ladies of the Red Cross in Mladá Boleslav and suffered a fate similar to that of Kadett Biegler in Švejk. The whole contingent including Kuděj ended up in a three week quarantine at Pohořelec.

Good life in Beroun

After returning to Rumburk he was transferred to Beroun, a town he knew from his travel with Jaroslav Hašek 5 years earlier. This indicates that we are already in 1918. In Beroun he had a similarly good time. One of his friends was an expert on forging signatures and secured Kuděj several periods of leave in Prague. But again it ended badly as he was caught and locked up in the garrison prison at Hradčany, and here we find another parallel to Švejk. His release from the prison also happened in a manner that was very similar to Hašek’ novel. Kuděj was commanded back to his unit in Beroun and was to be escorted to the railway station by two senior soldiers. Like in The Good Soldier Švejk they had a stop on the way, this time in Kavárna Union and it was a joyful encounter. They just about caught the last train to Beroun. The two soldiers were so drunk that Kuděj had to carry their rifles and sort out all the practicalities. Needless to say the arrest in Prague meant an end to the good times in Beroun.

K.u.k. Apostolisches Feldvikariat
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Feldvikar Emmerich Bjelik visiting the front in 1916

© Bildarchiv Austria

Fortunately the officers in Beroun left it for senior lieutenant Jošt, a friend of Kuděj, to decide his fate. He was sent off to k.u.k Feldvikariat (the office of the Military Bishop) in Vienna, his task was to write death certificates. The next day he was off to the capital, travelling with corporal Gangelhuber who was also sent there to fill in “Totenscheine”. Their immediate supervisor was feldsuperiat Krepler, who raised little sympathy.

Otherwise he had a good time, living in comfortable private accommodation by Frau Kokal who he got on well with. He also met the Field Bishop[4] himself a few times and describe him in positive terms. The clerks had a easy life, enjoyed great freedom and were even allowed holidays (Kuděj visited his mother in Příbram). Kuděj also got on well with Feldkurat Krofler who needed help due to his poor English. He also has good things to say about Gangelhuber, despite him being German.

'Going mad'
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Ranglisten der kaiserlich und königlichen Heeres ...,1918

Feldoberkurat Bartholomäus Boross was however a different specimen. This "wannabe Hungarian” of Slovak origin was generally disliked both by his superiors and subordinates, and for Kuděj the ensuing conflict meant an end to his blissful life in Vienna. After an incident Boross swore at Kuděj and called him a “Czech swine”, causing the offended soldier to retaliate with similar words about “Slovak renegade”, and not only that: he physically attacked his superior who fled the office! Immediately realising what he’d done, and the possibly fatal consequences he decided to feign a nervous breakdown and ran straight to the army bishops office in a state of agony. It worked, the good-hearted field bishop and others took care of him and he didn’t have to face Boross again. In the end three doctors investigated him and he was let off the hook, sent back to Beroun, then to Rumburk and finally to Litoměřice where he was to appear before a medical commission, applying for 6 months leave from the army.

Back in Beroun and Rumburk
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Kuděj was back in Rumbruk some time after the 21 May 1918 uprising

There is little indication to the dates and duration of his various stays in Rumburk, Beroun, Vienna, Beroun and finally Rumburk again. One historical event does however give an indication. Kuděj mentions the Rumburk rebellion where soldiers rose up due to hunger, non-payment of wages and bullying by officers. The uprising took place 21 May 1918 and the leaders were executed on the 29th. Kuděj must therefore have been back in Rumburk after this date. In Litoměřice a conversation reveals that his proposed leave would end in January, indicating he was there in July 1918. In Vienna he must have spent several months as he mentions that he had been on several holidays.

Superartbitration and illness
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Dr. Josef Thomayer

Světozor,21.3.1913

In Litoměřice the doctor benevolently allowed Kuděj a full year of leave, based on the medical reports from Vienna and Beroun where he was described as a “neurotic of the highest degree”. He then set off for Prague where he stayed with Josef Lada and his first beer in freedom was enjoyed at U Brejšky. Thus ended his brief but colourful military career.

The next morning events took a dramatic turn. Kuděj woke up late, could hardly move or speak and Lada had to get a doctor and eventually an ambulance took the patient to hospital where he was looked after by dr. Thomayer (a famous Czech medical scientist who is also mentioned in Dobrý voják Švejk v zajetí). This time it was serious, and the illness resulted in a prolonged stay: from the day of St. Anne (25 July 1918) to the end of October. He was still in hospital when the Czechoslovak republic was declared 28 Oktober 1918 but was soon after released.

Volunteer in Slovakia

In the euphoria after the declaration of the new republic, many writers volunteered for army service to help their “Slovak brothers” who were facing a military threat from Hungary. Kuděj was accepted in the new Czechoslovak army and set off for Slovakia via U Fleků and Union. The volunteers were given guard duties in Trenčiánské Teplice and led a relatively comfortable life. The bloodthirsty Hungarians never appeared, apart from a man who cooked for these brave Czech volunteers.

The Tourist Club and dr. Guth

How long the stay in Slovakia lasted is unclear, but it ended when Kuděj was contacted by dr. Doctor Guth and offered the post as secretary of Klub Českých Turistů. Guth was Kuděj’s former teacher at the gymnasium and long term chairman of the club. This was according to some sources Kuděj's first permanent employment. How long he worked there is not clear, but eventually he resigned after a conflict with a female clerk who was annoyed with him because he had rejected her advances. His resignation was much to the dismay of Guth.

Lipnice
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Kuděj's first visited Lipnice together with the painter Jaroslav Panuška

During the farewell trip with the tourist club to the area around Mnichovo Hradiště he met and became a friend of the painter painter Panuška. This would have a major impact on his future life as the two set out on a trip to Vysočina, an area the painter knew well. During this trip Kuděj visited Lipnice for the first time. The trip took place before Jaroslav Hašek returned to Prague, surely in 1920. At Lipnice they met the teacher Mareš, a fervent follower of Volná myšlenka (Free thought). Mareš was later to give a speech at the funeral of Jaroslav Hašek, 5 January 1923. Needless to say they visited U Invaldů (Česká koruna), the inn that later would pay host to Jaroslav Hašek and where large parts of Švejk was written in 1921 and 1922. Kuděj dedicates no less than four chapters of his autobiography to his first stay at Lipnice.

A postcard from 19 April 1920 has been preserved so it may have been part of this trip as Vlašim is mentioned. Then on 20 May 1920 Kuděj wrote a postcards from what seem to have been a trip to western Slovakia and Trenčín. Strangely enough both postcards are from the caves by Mladeč west of Olomouc.

Between the Ministry of Defence and Tarzan
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© LA-PNP

He was then called back to Prague and offered the post as co-editor of Armádní buletín, published by the ministry of defence(MNO). This took place at the time Klofáč resigned as defence secretary, so the date can be established: 25 May 1920. To get to his destinations he obviously had to refresh himself at several inns, amongst them U Fleků. That he was not a military expert didn’t matter, his main duty was to translate articles from English and American journals. He was very efficient, to the degree that he often needed to work for a mere two hours. Thus he would have had ample time to mix with intellectuals at places like U Petříků, Union and U Vejvodů.

During a vacation he visited Litomyšl, the place where he lived the last three years of his life and where he eventually found his grave. When returning to Prague he rented a room in Dejvice, from Mrs. Friedlová. From the end of the war he had been busy translating, and now came the time to create a Czech version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' “Tarzan”. The translation work was well paid, fifteen sheets were worth three times his monthly salary at MNO. Still he was in a dilemma whether to quit his post or not. At the time he met his eldest brother, who was three years older [Jan, born 1878]. His brother was “a well balanced person, physically and spiritually different from me”.

He did however translate Tarzan and remarked that “it wasn’t necessary to use the brain”. His work on Tarzan caused a certain fame, and one of his new followers from the countryside invited him to the brewery in Dolní Královice, a place he had visited with Hašek in 1914.

Marriage

At the time he took another step, he married Božena Fibrigová, his landlady in Dejvice. The wedding took place at okresní hejtmanství in Smíchov, in a ceremony led by the hejtman himself. No rings were involved as it was “a relic from barbarian times when women could be bought for a piece of gold”. The honeymoon trip went to Mnichovo Hradiště, Bakov nad Jizerou, Jičín, Sobotka, Kost and other places in Český raj (the Czech paradise). His mother was born in Bakov and here Kuděj spent his boyhood summer holidays. The trip lasted for 14 days, and even included a reunion with Karel Pelant, the editor that Kuděj and Hašek had met in Plzeň in 1913. With the honeymoon his autobiography ends.

Reunion with Hašek
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Postcard from Lipnice 22.6.1922, also signed by Hašek

© LA-PNP

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On hearing of Hašek's death. Mnichovo Hradiště, January 1923

© LA-PNP

Kuděj met the author of Švejk again in 1921 in Prague and also visited him at Lipnice a few times. Kuděj remembers a visit in June 1922 where the two thought up a title that would later decorate the first book about their travels together: “Ve dvou se to lépe táhne”.

He had spent Christmas 1922 with his friend Břetislav Hrdina in Mnichovo Hradiště, had contracted a cold that forced him to remain. When picking up again he went to a gathering in Hoškovice and here he heard of his friends death. He immediately set off for Lipnice and as the only one among Hašek's literary friends he attended the funeral. Of the others who travelled to attend the funeral he mentions Hašek's brother Bohuslav, son Richard and the journalist Michal Mareš.

Books about Hašek

Kuděj was one of the first to publish his reminiscences of his late friend. Already in 1924 the first of the two books Ve dvou se to lépe táhne was on the market, followed by part two the next year. The book almost exclusively concentrated on their trip in 1913. In 192ý he followed up with Ve dvou se to lépe tahne, ve třech hůře. This was also a travel tale, this time from their trip to Posásaví in 1914. In 1930 he published Když táhne silná čtyrka.

Later life
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From 1927

© LA-PNP

During the inter-war years he published a number of books, amongst them three about his time together with Hašek. He translated from English into Czech, amongst them Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, and as already mentioned: Tarzan.

In 1926 he moved to Vysočina and from then on he never returned to live in Prague. In 1931 he travelled to Ruthenia (now Ukraine, then part of Czechoslovakia) and his experiences there resulted in the novel Horálská republika (1932). This was the last ever novel he published during his lifetime, what has appeared since has been collections and re-edits published by others.

Most of the rest of his life he lived at Vysočina - at Ledeč nad Sázavou, Dolní město, Světla nad Sázavou, Radostovice, Humpolec and Polná. News about his round birthdays were printed in local newspapers. He continued to publish, in 1941 and 1942 he worked on the novel "Sid" that was never published in his lifetime.

Time line

Police registers, army files and passenger lists give us many dates from his younger years. After 1920 we are mainly left to rely on personal correspondence. The list also includes visits, for instance in Kochánov where painter Panuška lived. In a few rare cases the dates can be deduced (e.g. the photo by U Brejšky). Only exact dates are included in this list.

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Washington Post, 19.3.1906

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Letter to Jaroslav Hašek

© LA-PNP

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Ledeč nad Sázavou, 31 March 1936

© Michal Giacintov

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Postcard to Zdena Ančík

© LA-PNP

DatePlace
24 November 1881Hořice (birth)
20 September 1884Vinohrady
13 February 1888Prague (brother Václav died)
22 September 1888Vinohrady
25 August 1889Vinohrady
23 August 1890Vinohrady
29 May 1893Vinohrady
21 August 1895Vinohrady
23 November 1896Vinohrady
14 April 1902Plzeň (?) (k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7)
1 Oktober 1902Plzeň (LIR7)
6 Oktober 1902Cheb (LIR6)
11 May 1904Plzeň (LIR7)
13 August 1905Plzeň (?)(LIR7)
17 March 1906Cuxhaven (dep. Graf Waldersee)
18 March 1906Dover (port)
18 March 1906Boulogne (port)
19 March 1906The Lizard (passed)
28 March 1906Sandy Hook (passed)
28 March 1906New York (arr. Graf Waldersee)
29 March 1906New York (immigration)
9 August 1909Rokycany (?) (LIR7)
19 August 1911Rokycany (?) (LIR7)
29 August 1913Rokycany (LIR7)
5 Desember 1913Prague
17 January 1914Prague, U Brejšky (photo)
8 Oktober 1915Prague, (letter to Hašek)
20 March 1917Rumburk (?) (photo)
25 July 1918Praha
19 April 1920Vlášim
20 May 1920Trenčín
14 June 1921Lipnice
22 June 1922Lipnice
14 September 1921Dejvice 348
22 Desember 1925Dejvice 348
26 August 1927Kochánov (painter Panuška)
13 April 1931Jasina (Ruthenia)
31 March 1936Ledeč
1 May 1940Radostovice
1 January 1944Radostovice
10 January 1946Humpolec
18 March 1946Humpolec
12 April 1949Ledeč
31 July 1950Ledeč
10 September 1950Humpolec (hospital)
18 September 1950Humpolec (hospital)
14 January 1951Polná
12 March 1952Polná
28 April 1952Ledeč
14 July 1952Litomyšl
16 September 1952Praha
9 Oktober 1952Litomyšl
23 Desember 1954Litomyšl
8 August 1955Litomyšl (death)
Litomyšl and the end
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With Anna Soukupová, Litomyšl, July 1947.

© Regionální muzeum v Litomyšli

In 1952 he moved to Litomyšl a town he knew well from many visits and where he had many friends. Being hit by pneumonia after an operation he died in the local hospital on 8 August 1955, at the age of 73. His grave is kept and can be found at the city cemetery.

Since his death most of his writing has been collected and re-published, the latest being Neklidný zadek mě pálí, edited by Miloš Doležal (2018). This book contains parts of the mentioned unpublished autobiography and also part of an unpublished essay on Jaroslav Hašek that he wrote for Haškologist and culture apparatchik Zdena Ančík.

In his later years Kuděj handed over some material, including his autobiography and notes about Hašek to Ančík. Some of the correspondence between the two has also been preserved.

Kuděj reflected in Švejk
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Švejk and Kuděj both had to take care of their inebriated escort

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Parallels to Švejk in Kuděj's notes

It is obvious that Jaroslav Hašek added certain fragments from the live of his good friend to his literary hero. This is particularly the case in the first book, with the scene where Švejk is pushed to the draft board in a wheelchair because of rheumatism, exactly what happened to Kuděj in 1914.

His service with the military clergy during the later stages of the war may well have provided Hašek with material for his field chaplains. Another detail that probably was borrowed from Kuděj is the fact that Švejk visited Bremen (Hamburg is not far).

Another striking parallel is the trip from Hradčany to feldkurát Feldkurat Katz. Kuděj describes a remarkably similar journey in his unpublished memoirs. He was escorted from the garrison prison at Hradčany to the railway station by two older soldiers who got drunk to the degree that Kuděj in the end had to assist them.

Some place names from his trips with Hašek in 1913 and 1914 also appear in The Good Soldier Švejk, a full overview has not yet been compiled.

Another hypothesis is that Kuděj’s claimed "dismissal from the army" may have inspired Hašek to assign a similar fate to his good soldier. Although we know today that the story is invented, Kuděj may well have told his own version to Hašek and others. The "superarbitration" theme appears in The Good Soldier Švejk already in 1911 and by then the two writers knew each others. That does logically contradict the earlier mentioned possibility that some of Kuděj's stories from the in total four "Waffenübungen" he took part in eventually found their way into The Good Soldier Švejk. Or does it? Švejk himself was also superarbitrated but still took part in several manoeuvres, an apparent contradiction.

Gustav Janouch
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From Gustav Janouch's book "Prager Begegnungen" (Leipzig, 1959)

Foreign language literature about Kuděj is virtually non-existent, the only known exception being Gustav Janouch’s[5] book Prager Begegnungen (Leipzig, 1959) where Kuděj features in one of the chapters. Janouch notes that he met Kuděj in May 1922, in café Rokoko. They bumped into each other several times after that, and the last meeting was in café Dalles in Liliova ulice in Staré město in 1928, next to the offices of Bohemia. Kuděj is described as melancholic and his mood was worse when he drank. Like Hašek he shows disregard for high culture and claims that in the bourgeois world it is all about money anyway. He briefly touches on his stay in America, and also mentions The Good Soldier Švejk. He gives Max Brod most of the credit for making Hašek's novel known abroad and laments that no-one propagated his own work in the way that Brod did for Jaroslav Hašek.

Kuděj’s legacy
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Two recent books about Kuděj (2018, 2017)

Kuděj never got close to achieving the fame of Jaroslav Hašek and remains a rather obscure writer, practically unknown outside his homeland. Apart from a few stories that appeared in Prager Presse none of his work seems to have been translated. Still his books were re-published as late as the 1980’s and from time to time media articles and radio programmes about him appear.

In 2004 a doctoral thesis on “Travelling themes in Kuděj’s writing” was published by Kateřina Křenová, at Charles University. In recent years two new publications centred on Kuděj have appeared: the already mentioned “Neklidný zadek mě pálí” (2018) and the novel “Kuděj aneb Krása kuráže” by František Všetička (2017).

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The only pub in the world dedicated to the author: "U Kuděje" in Olomouc

Another legacy is the "fact" that Kuděj spent six years in America when he was actually there for three years. Similarly the story about him being dismissed from the army during his first time service still persists, more than 100 years on. Why did he lie about these parts of his live? Perhaps only psychologists can give an answer, otherwise we're left with conspiracy theories.

Outside literary circles his memory is kept alive by a group of enthusiasts (Memoriál Matěje Kuděje). They have since 1993 have arranged a pub-crawl in Prague, wearing uniforms. Each summer they also (loosely) undertake excursions in Kuděj’s footsteps in the Czech countryside. This society has strong links to similarly loosely organised groups who keep the memory of Jaroslav Hašek alive.

Also connected is U Kuděje, a popular pub in Olomouc. It is the only pub on the planet dedicated to the Kuděj, and every November the author’s birthday is celebrated here.

Sources: Miloš Doležal, Kateřina Křenová, Michal Giacintov, Gert Kerschbaumer, VÚA, LA-PNP

Notes
1. The ship had three passenger classes: 1st cabin, 2nd cabin and 3rd class. Kuděj travelled 2nd cabin.
2. Antonín Sojka, a regiment doctor at Prague's k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 8, garrisoned at Pohořelec.
3. During the first half of 1915 most Czech regiments were moved away from their home area, a measure by the military authorities to prevent soldiers from mixing with the increasingly discontent population. They were in most cases swapped with more loyal Hungarian or German regiments. On 25 May 1915 Rumburger Zeitung reported the recent arrival of the replacement battalion of k.k. Landwehrinfanterieregiment Nr. 7 in Rumburk.
4. Emmerich Bjelik, 1860-1927, was the last ever head of Apostolisches Feldvikariat, the highest authority in the Austro-Hungarian Roman-Catholic military clergy. He was of Slovak origin and served as Feldvikar from 1911 to 1918.
5. Gustav Janouch was a Czech musician and author who is best known for his somewhat controversial book Converstions with Kafka, but who also wrote a valuable biography on Jaroslav Hašek (in German).
Literature

© 2008 - 2024 Jomar Hønsi Last updated: 16.3.2024