Karel Čapek – The White Disease – The Čapek Brothers Museum, Malé Svatoňovice

Fact of the Czech figure „Pandemics in Czech lands”

Part of the „Pandemics” topic

Epidemics often play a prominent role in the memorial and artistic culture of many countries and are often associated with difficult periods in national history. This is not the case in Czech history and art. While the metaphor of Jirásek’s novel Temno (The Darkness) is still alive and in use, the symbolic use of epidemics is not very common. A rare exception is a drama by the Czech writer Karel Čapek entitled White Disease. In the allegorical drama, the spread of a deadly infection called the White Disease confronts the doctor Galen with the moral dilemma of whether to cure the arms magnate Krug of the disease. However, the white disease in the work is not merely a disease but primarily an allegory of the spreading Nazi regime that gripped the population in the 1930’s.

The pandemic is understood not as a symbol of national catastrophe but as a political threat. Warning of the dangers of totalitarian regimes was also a motif in Čapek’s other works, perhaps The War with the Newts standing out the most. It is possible to find out more about the life and work of the author of these well-known and widely read works at the Čapek Brothers Museum in his home village of Malé Svatoňovice.