Hrádek - František Pravda
Memorial plaque to František Pravda in Hrádek on the building of the former school, today the post office. The local library also bears his name and a museum is open at the castle. František Pravda's real name was Vojtěch Hlinka. He was born on April 17, 1817 in Nekrasín near Nové Včelnice (Nové Etynk). He came from an ancient peasant family and spent his childhood and youth on the farm.
He went to school in Nové Etynek. Because he studied with excellent results, his parents agreed that he should continue his studies. Vojtěch Hlinka therefore graduated from a six-year high school in Jindřichov Hradec and then applied to study philosophy in Prague. After graduating in philosophy, he went to Vienna in 1838, where he studied theology.
In Vienna, a national consciousness was awakened in him, until now suppressed by German schools, and he very urgently realized how much he lacked Czech education and the use of the Czech language. After a year of study, he therefore transferred to the Prague seminary, where he continued to study theology.
After his ordination to the priesthood, there was no vacancy for him. He therefore stayed in his native Nekrasín and helped the clergyman in nearby Jarošov. Not long after, he started as a chaplain in central Bohemia in Kvílice. He also worked in an institution for the blind, and there he met the founder of Blahovest magazine, Václav Štulc, who asked him for literary contributions to this magazine. Here he wrote his first short story Two weddings at once, which he signed for the first time as František Pravda. Shortly after that, Hlinka fell seriously ill and had to leave his work at the institution for the blind.
After he was cured, the young priest's future fate beckoned him to Sušicko do Hrádek. On October 7, 1847, he accepted the position of tutor in the noble family of Baron Sturmfeder, whose second wife had died not long before his arrival. The baron was left with two children, Otakar (13 years old) and Otílie (11 years old). Otakar's son was mentally ill, but already during the first year of Hlinka's work, he managed to find a method to develop what was possible in the boy. The Baron was grateful to the chaplain for this and asked him to stay with the family. He even had a house built for him, in which he lived for all the following years. When Vojtěch Hlinka came to Hrádek, he was only 30 years old and assumed that he would be an educator here for the next 6 years. In the end, he lived here for 57 years.
In addition to his teaching profession, he was also a writer and published in various magazines from 1848. The subject of his works, which were published between 1851 and 1853 as a collection of short stories entitled "Tales from the Region", are the fates of striking characters from villages and small towns. The writer describes in detail the life on the farm and in the servant's house, he portrays rich peasants, but also chubby girls and girls. To this day, the factual characteristics and almost documentary style with which the author describes the characters of the heroes is still surprising. Another consideration is Slovo o slěnch a k slěnch, where he uncompromisingly fights for the education and equal rights of Czech ladies and girls. In the work Pictures from the War, he shows a courageous resistance to wars. In his reflections, he included nationalist and revivalist tendencies, which the common people understood well. Our best short story writers such as A.V. Šmilovský, V. Hálek, V. Kosmák, the Mrštková brothers, K.V. Rais and J.Š. Bar. Jan Neruda himself characterized Pravda's story Matěj sprosták as the best short story of Czech and world prose. Although this assessment does not hold up years later, Pravda is a writer with a lively expression, whose example also influenced subsequent generations.
His literary work was considerable. He classified his short stories himself into children's circles, for youth, for more mature youth, for young craftsmen, theater for children and travelogues. The stories were published individually, but also in sets.
At the beginning of the 1970s, Vojtěch Hlinka was not just a well-known writer František Pravda. He was also the archbishop's notary of Prague and the bishop's notary of Budějovice and Králové Hradek. He became an honorary citizen of Hrádek and the city of Sušice. He was also awarded honorary citizenship by Nekrasín near Nová Včelnice. In 1874, at the request of Dr. F.I. Riegra, he ran for and was elected as a member of the regional assembly for the Old Bohemian Party in Sušick and Horažďovick. however, politics made him too embittered and tired, so he resigned at the next election. In 1890, a fire department was founded in Hrádek, and Mr. Vojtěch Hlinka was one of its founding members. In 1893, he was even appointed an honorary member of the fire brigade at the general meeting. The delegation of writers who came to congratulate him on his eightieth birthday in April 1897 testifies to the respect and respect he enjoyed not only among readers, but also among important writers of the time. Karal Václav Rais, Alois Jirásek and Jaroslav Kvapil personally handed him a greeting card from the writers associated in the Association of Czech Writers Máj.
Vojtěch Hlinka died on December 8, 1904. He was buried in the Zdoun cemetery in the presence of the entire population of the Sušice region. Today, František Pravda, priest, educator, writer and honorable citizen of Hrádek belongs to unjustly neglected authors, and there is not much material about him and his life. Nevertheless, he was not completely forgotten, which is evidenced by the fact that since 2003 the František Pravda Award has also been awarded as part of the Literary Šumava competition.
He went to school in Nové Etynek. Because he studied with excellent results, his parents agreed that he should continue his studies. Vojtěch Hlinka therefore graduated from a six-year high school in Jindřichov Hradec and then applied to study philosophy in Prague. After graduating in philosophy, he went to Vienna in 1838, where he studied theology.
In Vienna, a national consciousness was awakened in him, until now suppressed by German schools, and he very urgently realized how much he lacked Czech education and the use of the Czech language. After a year of study, he therefore transferred to the Prague seminary, where he continued to study theology.
After his ordination to the priesthood, there was no vacancy for him. He therefore stayed in his native Nekrasín and helped the clergyman in nearby Jarošov. Not long after, he started as a chaplain in central Bohemia in Kvílice. He also worked in an institution for the blind, and there he met the founder of Blahovest magazine, Václav Štulc, who asked him for literary contributions to this magazine. Here he wrote his first short story Two weddings at once, which he signed for the first time as František Pravda. Shortly after that, Hlinka fell seriously ill and had to leave his work at the institution for the blind.
After he was cured, the young priest's future fate beckoned him to Sušicko do Hrádek. On October 7, 1847, he accepted the position of tutor in the noble family of Baron Sturmfeder, whose second wife had died not long before his arrival. The baron was left with two children, Otakar (13 years old) and Otílie (11 years old). Otakar's son was mentally ill, but already during the first year of Hlinka's work, he managed to find a method to develop what was possible in the boy. The Baron was grateful to the chaplain for this and asked him to stay with the family. He even had a house built for him, in which he lived for all the following years. When Vojtěch Hlinka came to Hrádek, he was only 30 years old and assumed that he would be an educator here for the next 6 years. In the end, he lived here for 57 years.
In addition to his teaching profession, he was also a writer and published in various magazines from 1848. The subject of his works, which were published between 1851 and 1853 as a collection of short stories entitled "Tales from the Region", are the fates of striking characters from villages and small towns. The writer describes in detail the life on the farm and in the servant's house, he portrays rich peasants, but also chubby girls and girls. To this day, the factual characteristics and almost documentary style with which the author describes the characters of the heroes is still surprising. Another consideration is Slovo o slěnch a k slěnch, where he uncompromisingly fights for the education and equal rights of Czech ladies and girls. In the work Pictures from the War, he shows a courageous resistance to wars. In his reflections, he included nationalist and revivalist tendencies, which the common people understood well. Our best short story writers such as A.V. Šmilovský, V. Hálek, V. Kosmák, the Mrštková brothers, K.V. Rais and J.Š. Bar. Jan Neruda himself characterized Pravda's story Matěj sprosták as the best short story of Czech and world prose. Although this assessment does not hold up years later, Pravda is a writer with a lively expression, whose example also influenced subsequent generations.
His literary work was considerable. He classified his short stories himself into children's circles, for youth, for more mature youth, for young craftsmen, theater for children and travelogues. The stories were published individually, but also in sets.
At the beginning of the 1970s, Vojtěch Hlinka was not just a well-known writer František Pravda. He was also the archbishop's notary of Prague and the bishop's notary of Budějovice and Králové Hradek. He became an honorary citizen of Hrádek and the city of Sušice. He was also awarded honorary citizenship by Nekrasín near Nová Včelnice. In 1874, at the request of Dr. F.I. Riegra, he ran for and was elected as a member of the regional assembly for the Old Bohemian Party in Sušick and Horažďovick. however, politics made him too embittered and tired, so he resigned at the next election. In 1890, a fire department was founded in Hrádek, and Mr. Vojtěch Hlinka was one of its founding members. In 1893, he was even appointed an honorary member of the fire brigade at the general meeting. The delegation of writers who came to congratulate him on his eightieth birthday in April 1897 testifies to the respect and respect he enjoyed not only among readers, but also among important writers of the time. Karal Václav Rais, Alois Jirásek and Jaroslav Kvapil personally handed him a greeting card from the writers associated in the Association of Czech Writers Máj.
Vojtěch Hlinka died on December 8, 1904. He was buried in the Zdoun cemetery in the presence of the entire population of the Sušice region. Today, František Pravda, priest, educator, writer and honorable citizen of Hrádek belongs to unjustly neglected authors, and there is not much material about him and his life. Nevertheless, he was not completely forgotten, which is evidenced by the fact that since 2003 the František Pravda Award has also been awarded as part of the Literary Šumava competition.
Today, František Pravda has a commemorative plaque in Hrádek and his museum has been established in the castle.
Source: explanatory leaflet in the Museum of František Pravda at the castle in Hrádek
