Sonnenschein, Hugo auch H. Sonka#
Sonnenschein, Hugo (also H. Sonka), b. Gaya near Brno (Czech Republic), May 25, 1889, d. Mírov (Czech Republic), July 20, 1953, poet, anarchist and utopian. Son of a Jewish peasant, 1912-1914 travelled around Europe as vagabond poet. From 1929 managing secretary of the Society for the protection of the Rights of German Writers in Austria; imprisoned in 1940, deported to Auschwitz in 1943. Condemned after the war because of alleged collaboration with the Germans, died in prison. The collection of poems "Die Legende vom weltverkommenen Sonka" (1920) has become his most typical piece of work.
Edition: Die Fesseln meiner Brueder. Gesammelte Gedichte, ed. by K.-M.
Gauss and J. Haslinger, 1984.
Literature#
K.-M. Gauss, K. Kraus und seine "kosmischen Schlieferln". Zur Rehabilitation von A. Ehrenstein, H. S. und G. Kulka, in: Zeitgeschichte 10/2, 1982; J. Serke, H. S., in: Zeitgeschichte, Boehmische Doerfer, 1987; D. Wilde, H. S.-Sonka. Studien zu Biografie und Werk, doctoral thesis, Vienna 1995.