Lubor J. Zink

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Lubor Jan Zink (September 20, 1920 – November 6, 2003) was a Czech-Canadian writer and columnist known for his

anti-Communism
.

Early life

Zink was born in

concentration camp
.

After the war, Zink returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945 and joined the Czech language service of Radio Prague, the international broadcasting station operated by the Foreign Ministry. Zink's anti-Communist reports were heard by Czechs living abroad and, after the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took power in a 1948 coup, his broadcasts became anti-government. He subsequently lost his job and went into hiding until he, his wife and two-year-old son could flee to England. He became a British subject in 1949, and rejoined the BBC and worked on its European service until 1951. He then joined NATO where he worked as a political and economic analyst until 1957.[1]

Move to Canada

Zink moved to Canada in 1958 with his wife and son and became editor of the

Brandon Sun in Manitoba. His editorials won him a National Newspaper Award in 1961 and he was offered a job with the Toronto Telegram as an Ottawa-based columnist. He became a Canadian citizen in 1963.[1] When the Telegram folded in 1971 he moved to the Toronto Sun
, becoming one of the paper's original staffers.

Although he was a member of the Ottawa

crypto-Communist". Zink also ridiculed social programs being introduced by the federal government in the 1960s and 1970s, writing in 1965, "after medicare, what is next on the womb-to-tomb welfare list? Well, there are legalcare, morticare, carcare, housecare, leisurecare, and endless other possibilities."[2]
Zink's columns on federal politics were published in three collections, Trudeaucracy (1972), Viva Chairman Pierre (1977) and What Price Freedom? (1981).

On two occasions Zink ran for a federal parliamentary seat in the riding of Parkdale as the Progressive Conservative candidate, in the 1972 and 1974 federal elections. On both occasions he finished second.

His

Christian Science Monitor in the United States.[1]

His anti-Communist themes continued through the era of

fall of the Soviet Union
and in declining health, Zink discontinued his column in 1993.

Awards

After the fall of Communism, Zink was awarded a number of accolades from his homeland, including the Czech Republic's Medal of Merit, 1st Class in 1995; the Czech Foreign Ministry's Jan Masaryk Gratias Agit Award in 1999; and the Special Prague University Honour Medal in 2001. He was also made an honorary colonel in the Czech army.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2014-01-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Toronto Telegram, July 26, 1965 Archived July 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Pugnacious expatriate Czech outlived the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Journalist fought first the Nazis and then the Red Menace, denouncing Soviet-style communism till its fall" By Randy Ray, The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - Page R5

External links


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