Background
He was born into an assimilated Jewish family, his mother ran a shop selling candy and haberdashery. His father, a tradesman, left the Jewish community during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
He was born into an assimilated Jewish family, his mother ran a shop selling candy and haberdashery. His father, a tradesman, left the Jewish community during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
After Kárný graduated at the gymnasium, he continued his studies of history and Czechoslovakian language at the Charles University of Prague between 1937-1939.
Due to his Jewish origin, in November 1941 he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. He was deported on 24 November 1941, with the first transport "Ak". Margita and Miroslav were active in the Communist resistance group in Theresienstadt and they collaborated with Josef Taussig, Bruno Zwicker, Valtr Eisinger, Josef Stiassny and Friedl Dicker-Brandeis.
In September 1944, they both were deported to Auschwitz.
From here, Kárný was deported for slave labour to the auxiliary camp Kaufering of the Dachau concentration camp. He retired in 1973. Kárný was registered as a collaborator of the communist secret police StB in the category of agent since 1973.
After the war, he became a journalist and then a freelance historian, specializing in the Holocaust and German fascism.
During this time, he became a member of the students" communist organisation Kostufra.