The National Theatre Košice received with deep sorrow the news of the passing of Tibor Ferko, a long-time Košice journalist, theater scholar, writer, theater and television dramaturge, who left us forever on February 17 at the age of 92.
A native of Košice, Tibor Ferko graduated in theater studies from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague, dedicating his life not only to theater but also to the written word. Due to well-known normalization reasons after 1969, he held various manual jobs. He returned to his beloved theater in 1976 as a dramaturge for the drama department of the then State Theatre Košice. From 1990 to 2000, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the daily newspaper Národná obroda in Budapest, later serving as deputy editor-in-chief of the daily Slovenský východ and editor-in-chief of Sme na východe, a supplement of the Sme daily, and editor-in-chief of the bi-weekly Euroreport.
Even turbulent personal years did not deter him from writing. He authored novels such as "Občan O(t)o," "Pokušenie starého kocúra," "Lásky hra osudná," and "Keď chameleón nemá nohy." He also wrote numerous dramatic texts and television scripts, translated from Czech, Russian, and Hungarian. Tibor Ferko's lifelong love was undoubtedly the theater, and he paid the greatest tribute to it with his unique monograph "DIVADELNÉ LETOPISY MESTA CASSA, CASCHAU, KASSA, KOŠICE, 1557 – 1945 V SÚVISLOSTIACH DEJÍN" (Theatrical Chronicles of the City of Cassa, Caschau, Kassa, Košice, 1557 - 1945 in the Context of History). This first synthetic history of theater in the city of Košice, encompassing an impressive 870 pages, earned him recognition from the international jury of the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize for works of non-fiction literature published in 2013. A year later, he was also awarded the Mayor of Košice Prize.
The National Theatre Košice expresses sincere condolences to the family and loved ones.
