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Josef Josten, Czech Heritage Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS-0087

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of the personal papers of Joseph Josten and includes correspondence, photographs, various subject files, news clippings, and newspapers. The materials relate mainly to Josten's work as a journalist during and after World War II.

Dates

  • 1913-1985

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Biographical / Historical

Born in Prague, Bohemia, on March 25, 1913, Josef Josten was a life-long journalist, starting his career as a sports reporter and as a writer for Lidove noviny, a Prague newspaper. When the Germans marched into Prague in March 1939, Josten joined the Czech underground movement. In the same year he was forced out of the country and fled to France where he joined a Czechoslovak brigade.

When Czechoslovak units were evacuated to Britain, Josten participated in the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. He served with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in Luxembourg as a news broadcaster. Returning to Prague, Josten worked in the Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Jan Masaryk, the son of the founder of the Czechoslovak Republic. After refusing to joing the Communist Party, Josten set up the Free Czechoslovak Information (FCI) Service in England. The FCI circulated its newsletter "Features and News from behind the Iron Curtain" to subscribers in over fifty countries.

In 1980 Josten's concern for imprisoned intellectuals led him to form the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted and the Human Rights Charity. For this effort Josten was appointed a Member of the British Empire in 1985. Josef Josten died in London on November 29, 1985.

Extent

27 Linear Feet (41 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Czech

German

French

Spanish; Castilian

Portuguese

Dutch; Flemish

Italian

Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries Repository

Contact:
Archives & Special Collections
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
P.O. Box 884100
Lincoln NE 68588-4100 United States
402-472-2531