ヨゼフ・ラバイ

Labaj Josef

31.1.1928 Nýdek – 1.10.2002 Nýdek 

Labaj Josef / right / 1950s
orig.  photo, private collection by Eva and Jan Oravec, Ostrava

He was born into a spiritualist family to Eva and Josef Labaj. Father Josef Labaj / born on June 21, 1896 / and mother Eva Labajová - born Morcinková / born on November 4, 1899 / married 8. 10. 1916.

In his house in Nýdek no. 14 parents held spiritualist sessions already during the First World War. They were among the founding members of spiritualism in neighboring Bystřice nad Olší. After 1920, this group led by Josef Heczek joined the spiritualist association Bratrství in Moravská Ostrava - Radvanice and became its branch. In 1937, the Labajas tried to register their nine-year-old son Josef as a member of the Spiritual Association, but their old family friend and chairman Jan Kuchař, as evidenced by a surviving letter dated September 13, 1937, refuses to do so due to Josef's age. He became a member only after the Second World War in 1945.

The young Josef Labaj is fully deployed on 19 April 1943 in Třinecké železárny, where he works in a locksmith's workshop. After the war he completed a course for machine locksmiths at the ROH racing school in Třinec. He worked at Třinecké železárny as a locksmith and metallurgist until 1988, when he retired.

Josef Labaj discovered the skills of medium drawing around 1946. His first surviving drawings are dated 1947. At that time, he became acquainted with the already very famous drawing medium Josef Kotzian in the spiritualist association in Radvanice. According to the surviving testimonies of the then members of the association, J. Kotzian teaches the young J. Labaj how to connect with the one who paints !! J.Kotzian has had a leading spirit named Solferino since 1919. Some of Labaj's drawings from that time are subsequently signed on top of each other by two Labaj / Solf signatures. And the drawings from 1949 already bear all the hallmarks of Kocián / Solferin's drawings, both pre-war and contemporary.

The Spiritualist association Brotherhood was officially banned in 10. 6. 1951 and dissolved by the communist regime.

On August 1, 1956, Josef Labaj obtained permission from the Ministry of the Interior to enter into a marriage with a Polish national Alžbeta / Elžbieta / Gazurková, born on July 7, 1926 in Istebná, Poland, where they subsequently married 13. 10. 1956. They moved to Josef's parents to Nýdek No. 14, where they live together until the end of their lives. In 1959, their only son Jan Labaj was born, who is raised in the spirit of spiritualist traditions.

Labaj's teacher Josef Kotzian / Kocián died in 1964 in Moravská Ostrava-Radvanice.

His wife Alžběta dies on February 28, 1995.

Both Elizabeth and Josef Labaj were very strong mediums, and according to surviving notes, spiritualistic sessions with Labaj took place in 1992. Throughout the ban on spiritualism in communist Czechoslovakia 1951 - 1989, friends from the abolished Brotherhood Association met in Nýdek No. 14 and Josef Labaj devoted himself to spiritualist medium drawing until his death in 2002. We know from his private notes that from 1947 until his death that he painted a total of about 67 of these spiritualistic drawings. About 29 of them were unfinished. 58 drawings were found. The rest is waiting to be discovered.