Jakub Grajchman

Jakub Grajchman was a Slovak poet, educator, dramatist, and romanticist. He was also a Slovak nationalist.

Biography

Grajchman was born Jakub Graichman on 25 July 1822 in Hybe, Austrian Empire. He would begin spelling Graichman Grajchman, the Slovak equivalent of his German surname, in later life in support of Ľudovít Štúr's standardization of the Slovak language. As a child, he attended school in Kežmarok, Gemer, and Levoča and had Peter Michal Bohúň as a classmate. He then studied Evangelical theory in Bratislava, Halle, and Berlin and attended University of Prešov, where he studied law. He taught in Bratislava and Košice before moving to Liptovský Mikuláš, where he was a notary and a court assistant until 1854. He was part of the revolutions across the Austrian Empire in 1848-1849. He then worked as a court assistant in Dolný Kubín 1854-1859 before returning to Liptovský Mikuláš, where he became a courtroom advisor. In 1867, he returned to his birthplace of Hybe to live out his last 11 years. He also lived in Liptovský Hrádok for a period.
He wrote many dramas, poems, articles, and plays in German and Slovak, sometimes using the "Štúrovo spirit of a national folk song." He contributed to such journals and almanacs as Orol tatranský, Nitra, Lipa, Sokol, Minerva, Slovanský almanach, and Živena Grajchman was not a popular writer during his lifetime. His works include Melancholický gavalier, Básnické spisy Jakuba Grajchmana, Ako to bolo?, Kto zaplatí nohavice?, Zakliaty tulipán, and Divná dáma. Though Grajchman wrote primarily for amateur theatres, Kto zaplatí nohavice? was made into a radio program and a TV performance was broadcast in 1987.
Grajchman died on 9 June 1897 in Hybe, where he is buried.