Radomír Vlček:
Josef Macůrek as a historian and the Brno school of historical Slavic studies

Abstract

This paper analyses scholarly, scientific and organizational pursuits of one of the most influential historians of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe of the 20th century – Josef Macůrek (1901–1992), a professor of Masaryk University in Brno – and his legacy. For this study, the wide range of topics covered by Macůrek and his students has been limited to the concept of the history of Slavs, i.e. the history of particular Slavic nations, and to the history of Slavic studies. The section on the historiographic school of Josef Macůrek focuses on the history of Slavic studies, as this topic is an apex of the works of Macůrek’s students through which they achieved outstanding results and international acclaim. The text itself is divided by topics into two main sections and further into several chapters. The first section traces the concept of the history of the Slavs and Slavic studies that Macůrek brought forth; the second one analyses the same topic in the works of several of his students and presents a selection, rather than a comprehensive anthology, and an analysis based on the study of Josef Macůrek’s and his students’ texts, supplemented by primary sources on their position in historiography and Slavic studies. The primary sources used consist primarily of the archival collections of Masaryk Institute and the Archive of the CAS, v.v.i., and of the Archive of the Masaryk University. Attention was also paid to the memoirs of the main participants, as well as those of other contributors. Secondary sources were also used, primarily those directly referring to Josef Macůrek and his students.

Language: czech

Keywords: Slavonic studies – History of Slavonic studies – History of Historiography – Josef Macůrek – Brno School of the History of Slavonic studies – Masaryk University – Institute of Slavonic Studies