Ludvik Askenazy (1921–1986)

Ludvík Aškenazy was born to a Jewish family in Český Těšín, Czechoslovakia.

His father's employment brought the family to Poland, where Ludvik graduated from high school in Stanisławów (present day Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), and studied Slavonic philology in Lviv.

At the start of World War II, Aškenazy was evacuated to Kazakhstan, where he taught history at a high school until he joined the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps of the Soviet Union in 1942, and was later decorated for his military service He returned to his homeland with the Czechoslovak Army and in May 1945, he met and later married Carla "Leonie" Mann, the daughter of writer Heinrich Mann, with whom he had two sons.
From 1945 to 1950, he worked for Czechoslovak Radio as a reporter and foreign political commentator. He traveled widely in Europe, the USA, India, Japan, and Israel. In the late 1950s, he left journalism and became a writer, producing novels, short stories, and radio plays, as well as works for children. Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he went into exile with his family and lived in Munich, Germany and Bolzano, Italy.
He published his works in German after they were banned in Czechoslovakia.

He is celebrated in an annual festival in his hometown of Český Těšín, Czech Republic.