{{Short description|Slovene poet}} {{redirect|Karel Destovnik Kajuh|the district of Celje|Karel Destovnik Kajuh (district)}} thumbnail|Karel Destovnik '''Karel Destovnik''' (sometimes '''Drago Destovnik'''),<ref>{{cite book |title=Slovenski zbornik |date=1945 |publisher=Državna založba Slovenije |location=Ljubljana |page=279}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Paternu |first1=Boris |last2=Stanonik |first2=Marija |last3=Novak-Popov |first3=Irena |title=Slovensko pesništvo upora 1941–1945 |date=1987 |publisher=Mladinska knjiga |location=Ljubljana |page=319}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Drago Destovnik - Kajuh |title=Po tisoč letih |url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-YH2YOKGK/6333b9fc-a4c8-4e43-952d-0adceaed8b4d/PDF |access-date=18 February 2023 |work=Novi čas |issue=18 |date=10 May 1945 |page=3}}</ref> pen name and nom de guerre '''Kajuh''' (Slovene convention: ''Karel Destovnik – Kajuh'', 13 December 1922<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.svobodnabeseda.si/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/sb77-marec-2022-web.pdf |title=13. december 1922 – pravi Kajuhov rojstni dan |first=Vlado |last= Vrbič |trans-title=13 December 1922 – the Correct Birth Date of Kajuh |journal=Svobodna beseda, glasilo ZZB za vrednote NOB Slovenije |language=sl |date=March 2022 |publisher=ZZB NOB Slovenije}}</ref> – 22 February 1944), was a Slovenian poet, translator, resistance fighter, and Yugoslav people's hero.
== Life and work == Kajuh was born in the town of Šoštanj<ref name="Jugoslovenski književni leksikon">{{cite book |author= Stanko Janež |editor = Živan Milisavac |date=1971 |title=Jugoslovenski književni leksikon |trans-title=Yugoslav Literary Lexicon |publisher=Matica srpska |language=sh |location=Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia) |page=93 }}</ref> in Slovenian Styria as the illegitimate child of Jože Destovnik and Marija Vasle.<ref name="Cesar">{{cite book |last1=Cesar |first1=Emil |title=Karel Destovnik-Kajuh: Življenje in delo |date=1968 |publisher=Svet za prosveto in kulturo Skupščine občine |location=Velenje |page=4}}</ref> His parents later married on 14 August 1923.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Destovnik |first1=Karel |title=Zbrano delo: Pesmi |date=1966 |publisher=Borec |location=Ljubljana |page=8}}</ref> The sobriquet Kajuh – associated with the word ''kanjuh'' referring to buzzard – comes from the estate name of his grandfather's birthplace in Skorno near Šmartno ob Paki.<ref name="Cesar"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://knj-velenje.av-studio.si/filelib/2010-knjiznica/odrasli/razstave/kajuh/spominska_kartica.pdf |title=Življenje Karla Destovnika Kajuha |trans-title=Life of Karel Destovnik Kajuh |language=sl |publisher=Velenje Library |year=2014}}</ref>
After finishing primary school in 1933, he enrolled in the Celje First Grammar School. In 1934 he became a member of the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia (SKOJ). On 29 April 1940, he was expelled from school due to his communist ideas. He then continued his schooling in Maribor but did not finish it due to World War II.<ref name="dogaja">{{cite web |title=Karel Destovnik- Kajuh |url=http://www.dogaja.se/opis/karel_destovnik_kajuh/2567 |website=dogaja.se |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030071649/http://www.dogaja.se/opis/karel_destovnik_kajuh/2567 |archive-date=30 October 2007}}</ref>
Kajuh started writing poems before World War II. He began publishing his poems in the literary magazine for youth ''Slovenska mladina'' (Slovene Youth), edited by his friend Dušan Pirjevec. Some of his best poems from this period with social, political, and love themes were published in this journal: "Otrok slovenski" (Slovene Child), "Slutnja" (Premonition), "Norec" (Madman), "Pesem delavca o svoji ljubici" (A Worker's Poem on His Beloved), "Vseh mrtvih dan" (Day of All the Dead), "Otrokovo pismo Jezuščku" (A Child's Letter to Jesus), "Novoletni sonet" (A New Year's Sonnet), "Kmečki otrok vprašuje" (The Question of the Peasant's Child), "Moj stric" (My Uncle), and so on. Kajuh was also a prolific translator. Especially noteworthy are his translations from Czech, particularly of the authors Jiří Wolker, František Halas, Ivan Olbracht, and Jaroslav Seifert.
He was arrested by the Yugoslav authorities at the end of January 1941 and sent to a prison camp in Ivanjica, Serbia,<ref name="Jugoslovenski književni leksikon"/> where he remained until mid-February. On 6 April 1941, the first day of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia Kajuh volunteered for the Yugoslav Army to defend his country. He joined a group of volunteers in the Sava Hills aiming to assist the Yugoslav Army in its fight against Germany. On 28 April, after the Nazi German occupation of northern Slovenia, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Slovenj Gradec. He was released in May and he hid in the Savinja Valley before escaping to Ljubljana in September, where he joined the clandestine {{ill|Security Intelligence Service (Slovenia){{!}}Security Intelligence Service|sl|Varnostno-obveščevalna služba}} (VOS) of the League of Communists of Slovenia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.travel-slovenia.si/slo/karel-destovnik-kajuh/ |language=sl |title=Karel Destovnik Kajuh |work=Travel Slovenia |access-date=8 November 2022 }}</ref> On New Year's Eve of 1942, he also met Silva Ponikvar, to whom he dedicated a number of his most highly regarded poems.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saleskibiografskileksikon.si/index.php?action=view&tag=711 |title=Destovnik, Karel - Kajuh |work=Šaleški leksikon |language=sl |access-date=8 November 2022}}</ref> In 1943, he joined the Partisans in Inner Carniola.<ref name="Jugoslovenski književni leksikon"/>
His revolutionary and simple love poetry was very popular among Slovene Partisans. He used his poetic talent in order to mobilize people into fighting against the occupying forces and inspiring them hope of a return to freedom. In 1943, the first Kajuh's poem collection was published in collaboration with his close friend {{ill|Marta Paulin|sl|Marta Paulin Schmidt - Brina}} (nom de guerre Brina) and sculptor Janez Weiss (nom de guerre Belač) in 38 copies in difficult mid-war circumstances.<ref name=Saleska>{{cite web |url=https://www.visitsaleska.si/sl/kajuhovo-leto-se-zacenja/ |title=Kajuhovo leto se začenja |language=sl |trans-title=The Year of Kajuh is Beginning |work=Visitsaleska.si |date=14 January 2022}}</ref> It was followed in 1945 by a comprehensive collection that was edited by Mile Klopčič and published in Ljubljana.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kamra.si/novice/13-decembra-1922-se-je-v-sostanju-rodil-karel-destovnik-s-partizanskim-imenom-kajuh-slovenski-pesnik-prevajalec-in-narodni-heroj/ |title=13. decembra 1922 se je v Šoštanju rodil Karel Destovnik, s partizanskim imenom Kajuh, slovenski pesnik, prevajalec in narodni heroj |date=13 December 2018 |work=Kamra |language=sl |trans-title=Karel Destovnik, partisan name Kajuh, Slovenian poet, translator and national hero, was born in Šoštanj on 13 December 1922}}</ref>
Kajuh was in touch with his contemporary Slovene literary scene. He maintained contacts with renowned authors such as Tone Seliškar, Matej Bor, and Prežihov Voranc. He also met with Oton Župančič who was considered at the time to be the most important poet writing in Slovene. Although the details of their meetings remain unknown, the young poet apparently left a huge impression on Župančič, who stated his enthusiasm for Kajuh's work. thumb|The cultural section of the 14th Slovene Partisan Division After joining the Partisans, Kajuh became the leader of the cultural section in his military unit, the 14th Slovene Partisan Division. On 6 January 1944, the division left the region of White Carniola in the Province of Ljubljana where it was stationed in order to reach Lower Styria through the Croatian soil. They reached their final destination on 6 February of the same year, facing a massive German offensive and a bitterly cold winter. The cultural section of the unit was based in a house in the small locality of Žlebnik. The house was attacked by a German patrol and Kajuh was one of the first to be killed.
The circumstances of his death are unclear. One account states that Kajuh was shot by a Slovene, Franc Černe, who was a member of the German group.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://old.delo.si/kultura/knjizevni-listi/poklon-pesniku-in-narodnemu-heroju-karlu-destovniku-kajuhu.html |title=Poklon pesniku in narodnemu heroju Karlu Destovniku - Kajuhu |trans-title=A Tribute to the Poet and National Hero Karel Destovnik, nom de guerre Kajuh |date=18 December 2012 |newspaper=Delo.si}}</ref> Other accounts say that he was shot in the back by the Partisans while attempting to surrender to the Germans, or that he was killed when a Partisan guard mistook him for a German.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dolgan |first1=Marjan |last2=Fridl |first2=Jerneja |last3=Volk |first3=Manca |title=Literarni atlas Ljubljane. Zgode in nezgode 94 slovenskih književnikov v Ljubljani |date=2014 |publisher=ZRC SAZU |location=Ljubljana |page=63}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
On 21 July 1953, Kajuh was declared a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.
Both Kajuh as a person and his poetry are considered one of the most important symbols of the Slovene Partisan movement during World War II. A primary school in Ljubljana and the Kajuh Literary Prize are named after him, as are several streets and squares throughout Slovenia. In Celje, an entire town district is named after him. Together with France Balantič, Matej Bor, and Edvard Kocbek, Kajuh is regarded as one of the most important poets of the Second World War in the Slovene lands.
Kajuh's poems became very popular among the Slovenes due to their direct appeal, melodic intonation, and simplicity.<ref name=Saleska /> Major research and work on Kajuh's life and legacy has been done by Emil Cesar, Matjaž Kmecl, Mihael Glavan, Miklavž Komelj, Vladimir Vrbič, and others.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nuk.uni-lj.si/kajuh100/o-kajuhu |title=Karel Destovnik Kajuh: 100. obletnica rojstva |language=sl |trans-title=Karel Destovnik Kajuh: The 100th Birth Anniversary |publisher=National and University Library of Slovenia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://old.delo.si/kultura/knjiga/kajuhova-pesmarica-za-danasnjo-rabo.html |title=Kajuhova pesmarica za današnjo rabo |language=sl |trans-title=Kajuh's Book of Poems for Today's Use |date=25 May 2015 |first=Brane |last=Piano |newspaper=Delo.si}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.delo.si/kultura/knjiga/pesnik-in-heroj-ki-vstaja-kot-clovek/ |title=Pesnik in heroj, ki vstaja kot Človek |first=Špela |last=Kuralt |language=sl |trans-title=A Poet and a Hero Who Rises as a Man |date=14 April 2020 |newspaper=Delo.si}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stajerskival.si/sl/news/kultura/kajuh.html |title=Vlado Vrbič: danes bi potrebovali 50 ljudi, kot je bil Kajuh |language=sl |trans-title=Vlado Vrbič: Today We Would Need 50 People Like Kajuh |date=11 April 2022 |publisher=Štajerski val}}</ref> In 2022, the National and University Library of Slovenia digitised Kajuh's writings, letters and photos.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://misli.sta.si/3092579/nuk-digitaliziral-kajuhovo-zapuscino |title=NUK digitaliziral Kajuhovo zapuščino |language=sl |trans-title=NUK Has Digitised Kajuh's Legacy |date=16 October 2022 |publisher=Slovenian Press Agency}}</ref> Slovenian composer Breda Šček set Kajuh’s text to music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Šček, Breda (1893–1968) - Slovenska biografija |url=https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi642570/ |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=www.slovenska-biografija.si}}</ref> The government of Slovenia declared 2023 the Year of Karel Destovnik Kajuh.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/knjige/leto-2023-bo-leto-karla-destovnika-kajuha-cigar-poezija-izpoveduje-nadcasovno-clovecnost/645352 |date=28 October 2022 |title=Leto 2023 bo leto Karla Destovnika – Kajuha, čigar poezija izpoveduje nadčasovno človečnost |language=sl |trans-title=2023 Will be the Year of Karel Destovnik Kajuh, Whose Poetry Speaks of Timeless Humanity |publisher=MMC RTV Slovenija}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Sources == * Emil Cesar, ''Karel Destovnik Kajuh'', Ljubljana 1979
== External links == {{commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080421005451/http://www.omnibus.se/cgi-bin/avtor.pl?eF=KARDES Karl Destovnik's poems] {{in lang|sl}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Destovnik, Karel}} Category:Slovenian male poets Category:Slovenian translators Category:Yugoslav poets Category:Yugoslav translators Category:Czech–Slovene translators Category:1922 births Category:1944 deaths Category:Yugoslav Partisans members Category:Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Category:People from Šoštanj Category:Ethnic Slovene people Category:20th-century Slovenian poets Category:Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Category:Slovenian communists Category:Slovenian activists