Kaj Munk
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Kaj Harald Leininger Munk (commonly called Kaj Munk) (January 13, 1898 - January 4, 1944) was a Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during World War II. He is commemorated as a martyr in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on August 14 with Maximilian Kolbe.
He was born Kaj Harald Leininger Petersen at Lolland, Denmark, and raised by a family named Munk after the death of his parents. From 1924, he was the vicar of Vedersø in Western Jutland.
The dramas of Munk were mostly performed and made public during the 1930s, although many were written in the 1920s. Much of his work is a contribution to the "philosophy-on-life debate" (religion - Marxism - Darwinism) which marked much of Danish cultural life during this period. Very often he used a historical background for his plays - among his influences were Shakespeare and Goethe.
In his dramas Munk often displays a fascination for "strong characters" and integrated people who fight whole-heartedly for their ideals (whether good or bad). In his play En Idealist, for example, the "hero" is King Herod whose fight to maintain power is the motive behind all of his acts until he is at last defeated by a show of kindness to the Christ child in a weak moment.
I Brændingen is a camouflaged portrait of Munk's antagonist, the anti-religious Georg Brandes whose atheist attitude also impressed him.
His 1925 play Ordet (The Word) is often said to have been his best work; it is an investigation of miracles from the unique (at least, to theatre) viewpoint of one who was not prepared to dismiss them. A family of farmers - of differing degrees of faith - find themselves reconciled to their neighbours through a miracle. A 1955 film version of Ordet was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, and won the Golden Globe Award that year for Best Foreign Language Film.
On one occasion, in the early 1930s, in a comment that would come back to haunt him in later years, Munk expressed admiration for Hitler (for uniting Germans) and wished that the same kind of unifying figure could be found for Danes. However, Munk's attitude towards Hitler (and Mussolini) quickly turned to outspoken disgust, as he witnessed Hitler's persecution of the German Jewish community, and Mussolini's conduct of the war in Ethiopia. Right from the start, Munk was a strong opponent of the German Occupation of Denmark (1940-1945) (although he continually opposed the idea of democracy as such, preferring the idea of a "Nordic dictator" who should unite the Nordic countries and keep them neutral during periods of international crisis). His plays Han sidder ved Smeltediglen ("He sits by the melting pot") and Niels Ebbesen were direct attacks on Nazism.
In 1938 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published on its front page an open letter to Benito Mussolini written by Kaj Munk criticising the persecutions against Jews. He was arrested and subsequently assassinated by the Gestapo on January 4, 1944 at Hørbylunde, near Silkeborg.
The reputation of Munk is one of the most paradoxical in modern Danish literature. During most of his life he was known as a right-wing anti-democrat, yet he passed into history as the anti-nazi martyr. He was extremely engaged in his own time, but usually wrote historical plays. He is often called a renewer of Danish drama but, in fact, he tried to revive both romantic and traditional naturalist theatre. He is called a classicist but today his plays are not performed very often. He was a deeply religious person but just as much a man of this world. His engaging personality has been an enduring centre of interest.
His plays, many of which have been performed at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen, and elsewhere, include:
- Pilatus (1917. Published 1937),
- Ordet (tr. The Word) (1925),
- Kaerlighed (1926),
- En Idealist (1928),
- I Brændingen (1929),
- Kardinalen og Kongen (1929),
- Cant (1931),
- De Udvalgte (1933),
- Sejren (1936),
- Han sidder ved Smeltediglen (1938),
- Egelykke (1940),
- Niels Ebbesen (1942),
- Før Cannae (1943).
The play Ordet was filmed in black and white by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Munk, Kaj Harald Leininger |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Munk, Kaj |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Danish playwright |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 13, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lolland, Denmark |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 4, 1944 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Hørbylunde, Denmark |
