Štefan Lux (4 November 1888 – 3 July 1936) was a Slovak Jewish journalist, and a Czechoslovak citizen, who committed suicide in the general assembly of the League of Nations during its session on 3 July 1936. He shot himself in order to alert the world leaders of the rising dangers of German antisemitism, expansionism, and militarism.
Štefan Lux | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 11 November 1888 Malacky, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Died | 3 July 1936 (aged 47) Geneva, Switzerland |
| Other names | Peter Sturmbusch |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, writer, stage actor, film director |
After shouting "C'est le dernier coup" ("This is the final blow"), he shot himself with a revolver.[1] In his suicide note he begged the British foreign secretary Anthony Eden to do something to stop Germany's criminal regime. Eden was never shown the letter. [2]
Condemning his act, but paying tribute to his cause, the journalist Léon Savary concluded: "People bold enough to fight for justice shouldn't kill themselves, but stay at their position."
His actions were misreported by the world media at the time.[clarification needed]
Lux was also a writer, a theater actor, and a film director,[3] who published his work under the pseudonym Peter Sturmbusch.
He was wounded on more than one occasion during World War I.[4]
Works edit
- Under Peter Sturmbusch pseudonym:
- Meine Lieder. ; Wien, C. Konegen, 1911. OCLC 79798882
- Drei Lieder für hohe Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung ; Julius Rünger; Peter Sturmbusch; Ema Destinnová; Ada Negri; Mainz : B. Schott's Söhne, 1916. OCLC 52499152
- Liebeslieder. ; Wien: Carl Konegen, 1921. OCLC 34528147
- Nur keck : Posse mit Gesang in 3 Akten ; Johann Nestroy; Peter Sturmbusch; Wien : Interterritorialer Verlag "Renaissance" (Erdtracht) 1923. OCLC 72234224
- As film Director:
- 1920 – Gerechtigkeit[5]
Memorials edit
- Amen. a Costa-Gavras movie of 2002 begins with the suicide of Lux in Geneva.
- Corrosion of Conformity's 1994 song "Pearls Before Swine" contains audio in the first 30 seconds of Lux's pre-speech introduction to the League of Nations.
See also edit
- Self-immolation, suicide for the purpose of protest
References edit
- ^ Michael B. Oren (21 October 2002). The New Republic (ed.). "The Rescuer – A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust by David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff". Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ James Loeffler (2018). Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-300-21724-7.
- ^ Stephan Lux at IMDb
- ^ "Přišel mezi světové politiky a zastřelil se Zdroj" (in Czech). 3 July 2011.
- ^ Gerechtigkeit. at IMDb
- Michael Biggs ; The Transnational Diffusion of Protest by Self-Immolation ; Department of Sociology, University of Oxford (2005), p. 17–29
- Betty Sargent ; The Desperate Mission of Stefan Lux ; The Georgia review. 55, no. 4, (2001): 187 ; Athens, University of Georgia. OCLC 95114451
- (in German) Der Opfertod von Genf : die Tat des Stephan Lux vor der Völkerbundsversammlung in the Israelitische Wochenblatt für die Schweiz 10 July 1936.
- (in German) Arnold Hahn : Vor den Augen der Welt ! Warum starb Stefan Lux ? Sein Leben, seine Tat, seine Briefe (Prag : Verlag der Cechoslovakisches Liga gegen den Antisemitismus, 1936). OCLC 71996332
- (in Spanish) Stefan Lux : Porqué se mató el periodista Stéfan Lux : apuntes para la historia de un mártir del siglo XX. ; Buenos Aires : Columna, 1937. OCLC 77527672
- (in German) Rüdiger Strempel: Lux. Gegen den Nationalsozialismus und die Lethargie der Welt. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-95510-216-6.
- (in French) League of Nations Archives : Registry n° 15/24650/17433.