Miklós Radnóti’s Followers (45)

Miklós Radnóti

Born

in Budapest, Hungary

May 05, 1909

Died

November 10, 1944

Genre

Poetry

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Miklós Radnóti, birth name Miklós Glatter, was a Hungarian poet who fell victim to the Holocaust.

Radnóti was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His life was considerably shaped by the fact that both his mother and his twin brother died at his birth. He refers to this trauma in the title of his compilation Ikrek hava ("Month of Gemini"/"Month of the Twins").

Though in his last years, Hungarian society rejected him as a Jew, in his poems he identifies himself very strongly as a Hungarian. His poetry mingles avant-garde and expressionist themes with a new classical style, a good example being his eclogues. His romantic love poetry is notable as well. Some of his early poetry was published in the short-lived periodical Haladás (Progress). H Miklós Radnóti, birth name Miklós Glatter, was a Hungarian poet who fell victim to the Holocaust.

Radnóti was born into an assimilated Jewish family. His life was considerably shaped by the fact that both his mother and his twin brother died at his birth. He refers to this trauma in the title of his compilation Ikrek hava ("Month of Gemini"/"Month of the Twins").

Though in his last years, Hungarian society rejected him as a Jew, in his poems he identifies himself very strongly as a Hungarian. His poetry mingles avant-garde and expressionist themes with a new classical style, a good example being his eclogues. His romantic love poetry is notable as well. Some of his early poetry was published in the short-lived periodical Haladás (Progress). His 1935 marriage to Fanni Gyarmati (born 1912) was exceptionally happy.

Radnóti converted to Catholicism in 1943. This was partly prompted by the persecution of the Hungarian Jews (from which converts to Christianity were initially exempted), but partly also with his long-standing fascination with Catholicism.

In the early forties, he was conscripted by the Hungarian Army, but being a Jew, he was assigned to an unarmed support battalion (munkaszolgálat) in the Ukrainian front. In May 1944, the defeated Hungarians retreated and Radnóti's labor battalion was assigned to the Bor, Serbia copper mines. In August 1944, as consequence of Tito's advance, Radnóti's group of 3,200 Hungarian Jews was force-marched to Central Hungary, which very few reached alive. Radnóti was fated not to be among them. Throughout these last months of his life, he continued to write poems in a little notebook he kept with him. According to witnesses, in early November 1944, Radnóti was severely beaten by a drunken militiaman, who had been tormenting him for "scribbling". Too weak to continue, he was shot into a mass grave near the village of Abda in Northwestern Hungary. Today, a statue next to the road commemorates his death on this spot.

Eighteen months later, his body was unearthed and in the front pocket of his overcoat the small notebook of his final poems was discovered (his body was later reinterred in Budapest's Kerepesi Cemetery). These final poems are lyrical and poignant and represent some of the few works of literature composed during the Holocaust that survived. Possibly his best known poem is the fourth stanza of the Razglednicák, where he describes the shooting of another man and then envisions his own death. ...more

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Miklós Radnóti’s books

Average rating: 4.43 · 782 ratings · 94 reviews · 73 distinct works • Similar authors

	Bori notesz 4.57 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 1971 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti by Miklós Radnóti, Zsuzsanna Ozsváth 4.49 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 1992 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Clouded Sky 4.57 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 1972 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ikrek hava by Miklós Radnóti, János Kass (Illustrator) 4.57 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1973 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Forced March by Miklós Radnóti (Translator), Clive Wilmer, George Gömöri (Translator) 4.49 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 1980 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Radnóti Miklós összes versei és műfordításai 4.66 avg rating — 32 ratings — published 1959	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Miklós Radnóti: The Complete Poetry in Hungarian and English by Miklós Radnóti, Gabor Barabas (Translator) 4.42 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Napló 4.86 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 1989 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Radnóti Miklós Művei by Miklós Radnóti, Pál Réz (Editor) 4.82 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 1978	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Radnóti Miklós versei 4.94 avg rating — 16 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Miklós Radnóti…

Quotes by Miklós Radnóti (?)

“The road whinnies and rears up. The sky gallops.
You are permanent within me in this chaos.
Somewhere deep in my mind you shine forever, without
moving, silent, like the angel awed by death,
or like the insect burying itself
in the rotted heart of a tree.”
― Miklos Radnoti, Clouded Sky

tags: from-postcard-1

15 likes

“Save me, O you who love me; love me bravely.”
― Miklos Radnoti, Clouded Sky

tags: from-the-terrifying-angel, miklos-radnoti

11 likes

“Ember vigyázz, figyeld meg jól világod:
ez volt a múlt, emez a vad jelen,-
hordozd szivedben. Éld e rossz világot
és mindig tudd, hogy mit kell tenned érte,
hogy más legyen.”
― Miklós Radnóti, Forced March

3 likes

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