Jan Werich

✶February 6, 1905

†October 31, 1980

Czech Republic

10 candles burning, 53 lit in all

About their life

Jan Werich was born in Prague in 1905 and met his lifelong stage partner Jiří Voskovec while studying law. From 1927 the duo V+W led Prague's Liberated Theatre, blending Dada-inspired clowning, jazz songs composed by Jaroslav Ježek, and sharp political satire. Their forestage dialogues, improvised nightly, made them the most popular comedians of interwar Czechoslovakia.

As their satire turned openly against Hitler in the 1930s, the theatre was closed, and in 1939 Werich, Voskovec, and Ježek escaped to the United States. Returning after the war, Werich stayed when Voskovec emigrated again, and carved out a singular place under communism as actor and author. He shone in films such as The Emperor and the Golem and wrote Fimfárum, a treasured book of wry fairy tales.

Though often at odds with the regime, which curtailed his work after 1968, Werich remained the nation's philosopher of humor, insisting that fighting human stupidity is a battle never won but never to be abandoned. He died in Prague in 1980. His recordings, films, and fairy tales are passed down through generations, a legacy of laughter as quiet resistance.

Actor, comedian, and writer who, with Jiří Voskovec, turned the Liberated Theatre into a stage of wit against fascism, and later became a beloved storyteller of the Czech nation.

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Biography from the article Jan Werich on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.