Karel Hašler 1879 - 1941

Born 31.10.1879 in Praha
Died 22.12.1941 in Mauthausen

Biography

Karel Hašler was born on 31 October 1879 into a working-class family in Praha-Zlíchova. He learned the trade of a glove maker but the theatre became his passion. He worked extensively in various travelling theatre societies, in theatres in Prague, Tábor, Brno and even in Lubljana, Slovenia. Between 1903 and 1915 he was a member of the drama ensemble in the National Theatre. During the First World War he went on tour through the Bohemian lands and was widely praised for his songs and sketches of an anti-Austrian and anti-war stance.

After the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia, Hašler continued to compose songs and even opened his own music publishing house. He also wrote reviews, satirical poems and his own memoirs. He devoted himself methodically to the cabaret, composed operettas and was the author of a series of songs that have become established in the Czech folksong canon. His work Ta naše písnička česká (Our Czech Song) in the film Písničkář (Song-maker) of 1932 achieved great popularity. He also made a name for himself as a film screenwriter, director and actor. During the Sudetenland crisis in autumn 1938, he gave performances of his patriotic music productions as well appearing in public for the movement for the defence of the republic. He continued this even after the German occupation in March 1939. He wrote patriotic newspaper articles and performed as a singer-songwriter in numerous towns in the Protectorate.

His anti-German statements led to his first arrest by the Gestapo in early 1941. Another followed on 2 September 1941. At this time he was working on the film Městečko na dlani (Our Little Town), which would be premiered after his death. He was detained in the Gestapo Pankrác prison, from where he was taken to a transport cell in Dresden. His final destination was the Mauthausen concentration camp, where he was given prisoner number 6581 on 17 September 1941. He was assigned to the sock darning detail. In mid-November an SS man beat him, causing him critical injuries. Four days later he was put in the punishment block and further tyrannised. He contracted dysentery. Karel Hašler died on 22 September 1941, officially as a result of blood poisoning after phlegmon.

A former fellow prisoner said of his death: ‘We asked over the toilet window for them to call him to us. They told us that he had been put under the shower because of severe diarrhoea and that he was lying unconscious in the washroom. Because we were not allowed in, we asked them at least to open the window for us. They agreed to our request and we saw the motionless body of our songwriter – his face turned to the window – lying on the bare concrete floor, emaciated to the bones, with wide eyes, surrounded by thick lashes. A human wreck...’

Jan Vajskebr

 

Terezín Memorial

 

 

Translation into English: Joanna White

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