Štefan Lux

Štefan Lux (November 11, 1888 Malacky – July 3, 1936 Geneva) 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 July 3, 1936. He shot himself in order to alert the world leaders of the rising dangers of German antisemitism, expansionism, and militarism.

Štefan Lux
Born(1888-11-11)November 11, 1888
Malacky, Austro-Hungarian Empire
DiedJuly 3, 1936(1936-07-03) (aged 47)
Geneva, Switzerland
Other namesPeter Sturmbusch
OccupationJournalist, writer, stage actor, film director

After shouting "C'est le dernier coup" ("This is the final blow"), he shot himself with a revolver.[1]

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.

Lux was also a writer, a theater actor, and a film director,[2] who published his work under the pseudonym Peter Sturmbusch.

He was wounded on more than one occasion during World War I.[3]

Works
  • 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[4]

Memorials
  • 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

References
  1. Michael B. Oren (October 21, 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 June 9, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2007.
  2. Stephan Lux at IMDb
  3. "Přišel mezi světové politiky a zastřelil se Zdroj" (in Czech). July 3, 2011.
  4. 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 July 10, 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.
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