Jan Křen (22 August 1930 – 7 April 2020) was a Czech

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, academic, dissident during

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

communist era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

, and a

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

signatory. He specialized in the study of Czech-German relations.

Career

In 1960s, Křen became one of the first Czechoslovak historians to document and research the

expulsion Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Persona non ...

of the

Sudeten Germans German Bohemians ( ; ), later known as Sudeten Germans ( ; ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constitute ...

from the country at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was originally a member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

from 1949 to 1969, but was expelled in 1970 over his opposition to the

Warsaw Pact invasion On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...

. Křen was also fired as professor and forced to work as a manual laborer. He became involved with the pro-democracy dissident movement, being one of the founding signatories of

and began holding a series of underground seminars held covertly in apartments and universities. Křen was also a co-founder of the

Samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

historical studies journal. In 1980s, he published one of his best known books, "Conflicting Communities. Czechs and Germans 1780–1918", through his own Sixty-Eight Publishers – an illegal, underground publisher. The book was later published in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1989, Křen founded the Institute of International Studies at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

and served as its first director. He also co-founded and chaired the Czech-German Commission of Historians and was involved with the Czech-German Fund of the Future. Křen was a visiting professor at German universities in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

awarded Křen the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000. In 2002,

President of the Czech Republic The president of the Czech Republic, constitutionally defined as the President of the Republic (), is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The presidency has largely bee ...

Vaclav Havel, a fellow Charter 77 signatory, awarded Křen the Medal of Merit. He also won the 2006

Magnesia Litera Magnesia Litera is an annual literary award, book award held in the Czech Republic since 2002. The prize covers all literary genres in eight genre categories: prose, poetry, children's literature, children's book (since 2004), non-fiction, essay/jo ...

book award A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

for best educational book for "Two Centuries of Central Europe."

Death

Křen was believed to have contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

at the nursing home where he lived in the

Michle Michle is a district of Prague city, part of Prague 4 Prague 4, formally the Prague 4 Municipal District (''Městská čast Praha 4''), is a second-tier municipality in Prague. The administrative district (''správní obvod'') of the same name ...

district of Prague in March 2020. On 7 April 2020, he died from at the age of 89 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic The COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organiza ...

Awards

Goethe Medal The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...

(1996) *

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(2000) * Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic (2002) *

Magnesia Litera Award Magnesia Litera is an annual literary award, book award held in the Czech Republic since 2002. The prize covers all literary genres in eight genre categories: prose, poetry, children's literature, children's book (since 2004), non-fiction, essay/jo ...

for educational literature book of the year (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kren, Jan 1930 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Czech historians Czech non-fiction writers Czechoslovak historians Charter 77 signatories Czech democracy activists Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Czech Republic–Germany relations Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Academic staff of Charles University Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic Writers from Prague