Kaj Munk

Munk, Kaj Harald Leininger [ Kaj Harald Leininger Petersen] (1898–1944), Danish priest and playwright, whose first substantial play, En idealist (Herod the King, 1928), was disastrously received on its first production and only fully established itself as a major work at its revival in 1938. One of his earliest successes was Cant (1931), a verse play about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It was followed by Ordet (The Word, 1932), which takes as its theme the nature of miracles. After a brief flirtation with Fascism in the early 1930s, Munk became increasingly and openly antagonistic to the movement, as was shown in his next plays, Sejren (The Victory, 1936), which condemned Italian aggression in Abyssinia, and Han sidder ved smeltediglen (He Sits by the Melting Pot, 1938), an attack on Nazi anti-Semitism. During the Second World War Munk continued fearlessly to write with Niels Ebbensen, Før Cannae, and Ewalds død. He was shot by the Nazis to silence his outspoken hostility to their occupation of his country.

Kaj Munk , 1898-1944, Danish playwright, a clergyman. His ethical plays, traditional in form, led the Danish dramatic revival in the 1930s. Among them is The Word (1932), which deals with resurrection and faith. Munk, who attacked National Socialism in He Sits by the Melting Pot (1938) and Niels Ebbesen (1942, tr. 1944), was killed by the Nazis in the German occupation. A translation of his works appeared as Five Plays (1953).