ŠPITZER, JURAJ

ŠPITZER, JURAJ (1919–1995), Slovak writer, literary critic, scriptwriter. Špitzer was born in Krupina, Slovakia. In 1944 he participated in the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans. From 1951 to 1970 he worked at the Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In 1970 he lost his job (punishment for his activities in 1968). Špitzer wrote several movie scripts and a number of stories, such as Patrím k vám ("I Belong to You," 1964) about the political trials of the 1950s and Letná neděľa ("The Summer Sunday," 1991). The narrative Nechcel som byť Žid ("I Did Not Want to Be a Jew," 1995) is based on a factual "Report on Nováky," which describes the Jewish concentration camp in central Slovakia between 1942 and 1944. After Špitzer's death, a collection of essays and memoirs appeared entitled Svítá, až keď je celkom tma ("It Is Getting   Light, until the Darkness Is Coming," 1996). The main topic was the so-called "Jewish question" and the Holocaust. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: V. Mikula, Slovník slovenských spisovatelů (1999) (Milos Pojar (2nd ed.) )