Odešel Jiří Pernes, autor "poslední záchrany": (4. 7. 1948 Svitavy – 21. 5. 2025 Kobeřice)
Jiří Pernes, the "Last Resort" Author, Has Passed Away: (4. 7. 1948 Svitavy – 21. 5. 2025 Kobeřice)

Summary/Abstract: In this obituary, originally published in the online daily "Lidové noviny" on 23 May 2025, Oldřich Tůma, long-time director of the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, commemorates his colleague, historian Jiří Pernes, who passed away on 21 May 2025, in Kobeřice near Brno. Born on 4 July 1948 in the Moravian town of Svitavy, Pernes studied history at the Faculty of Arts of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University (now Masaryk University) in Brno in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then worked in several museums, including the Historical Museum in Slavkov near Brno, where he was director. From 1990 to 1992, he was Director of the Moravian Museum (Moravské zemské muzeum) in Brno. In 1994, he joined the Institute of Contemporary History, with which he remained associated until the end of his life. He was chairman of the institute’s scientific council and, for many years, head of its Brno branch. He also taught externally at Masaryk University in Brno and at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. In 2010, he won the competition to become director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in Prague. However, he was dismissed shortly afterwards as a result of a smear campaign by his opponents in the media. He was also involved in political life, standing for election on behalf of various political parties (mostly unsuccessfully). Jiří Pernes was an exceptionally prolific author, publishing dozens of books and studies, and frequently appearing in the media. His professional and broader interests primarily focused on three areas: the final decades of the Habsburg Monarchy; various aspects of Moravian history and Moravian nationalism; and contemporary Czechoslovak history, particularly the period from the end of the war to the Prague Spring (1945–1968). Adhering to a traditional positivist approach, he excelled as an engaging historian and often proved himself to be a “last resort" author, readily taking over writing commitments of busy colleagues. Jiří Pernes will be remembered as a great Czech historian – and, even more so at heart, a Moravian historian – a willing and friendly colleague, and a person of great humanity.

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