Karlo Štajner (15 January 1902 – 1 April 1992) was an Austrian-Yugoslav communist activist[1] and a prominent Gulag survivor.

In December 1921, Štajner was sent to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by the Young Communist International to help the CPY.

From January 1922 until 1931, he lived in Zagreb, where he ran an illegal communist printing house, and was helping local CPY cell.

[4] In 1931, Yugoslav police found out about the printing house, so Štajner fled the country to avoid arrest.

He moved to Vienna, where he tried to establish an illegal printing house in order to distribute communist literature all over the Balkans.

[4] He was tried together with Yugoslavian communist leaders Filip Filipović and Antun Mavrak, both of whom died during the Great Purge.

After being released from prison, Štajner was not allowed to return to Moscow, but was forced to live in exile in Siberia according to the 101st kilometre Law.

In June 1956, during an official visit to Soviet Union, Tito handed Khrushchev a list of 113 Yugoslav communists who had disappeared during the Great Purge, and asked about their fate.

After return to Yugoslavia he was awarded a state pension, and he spent the rest of his life living in Zagreb.

[15] In June 1991, the Government of newly independent Croatia stripped Štajner (and many other communists) of the state pension.

She gave birth to a girl named Lida, but the baby died when she was two years old[19] of cold and illness.

[20] During Štajner's time in prison, Sonya was humiliated, mocked, and tortured by the authorities and was labeled "wife of an enemy of the people".

[21][22] After his return to Yugoslavia, Štajner became an author and published three books[23] about his arrest, trial, and experiences in Siberian gulags.

Štajner's life and work was a major inspiration for Danilo Kiš' book of stories A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, published in 1976.

[30] Kiš also wrote about Karlo and Sonya Štajner in his 1983 book of essays and interviews "Homo poeticus".