Ľudo Ondrejov


Ľudo Ondrejov was a Slovak poet and prose writer.

Biography

Ľudo Ondrejov was born in a Slovak family in Slanje on March 18, 1901. He spent most of his childhood in Slovakia in a small village Kostiviarska. He moved to Bratislava in 1938 and became a professional writer. Ľudo Ondrejov was a member of a partisan group in 1944–45. During World War II he was given a bookstore as a part of the Aryanization in Slovakia.

Works

Writing career

Ondrejov's first works were published in periodicals such as Slovenské pohľady. His first book was published in 1932. He wrote prose and poetry for adults and children. Ondrejov was a significant member of the Slovak school of naturalism. Ondrejov also wrote fictional travelogues.

List of selected works

Poetry
Prose
During the Second World War he aryanized second-hand bookshop of Jewish family of Steiners in Bratislava. Moreover, when the deportation of Jews started, he said that in his company no Jew is need and reported them to the authorities:
" I declare that in this bookstore I do not need these Jews: Max Steiner, Joseph Steiner, Sigismund Steiner and Viliam Steiner. By securing and deporting those Jews neither the trade nor the Slovak state will suffer any economic damage, because I have found compensation in the Aryan person Mr. Viliam Fabry from the St. Martin."
These people later died in concentration camps.