Czech writer Karel Capek (1890–1938) is best known as the author of R.U.R., the play that coined the term "robot" and a seminal work of science fiction. Ardently opposed to fascism and communism, Capek was an active journalist as well as a versatile writer whose works encompassed novels, modern fairy tales, detective stories, and translations of French poetry. Poet and painter Josef Capek (1887–1945) frequently collaborated with his brother Karel in the writing of plays and short stories. Upon Germany's 1939 invasion of Czechoslovakia, his outspoken opposition to Nazism led to his arrest and imprisonment, and he died within days of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

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