Otakar Odložilík

Otakar Odložilík ( born January 12, 1899 in Kostelec u Holešova, Moravia; † 14 July 1973 in Bohinj, Yugoslavia) was a Czech historian and archivist. The focus of his work was of Protestantism in Bohemia and Moravia.

Life

Odložilík visited high schools in Přerov (1910-1914), Valašské Meziříčí (1915 ) and Kroměříž ( 1916-1917 ). Subsequently, he studied from 1918 to 1922 History at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Václav Novotný. At the same time he attended from 1920 to 1923, the State Archives School. In 1923 he received his doctorate with the work Jednota bratří Habrovanských ( Habrowaner Brethren ). In the same year he accepted a job as an archivist at the Czechoslovak Ministry of the Interior. In 1925, he was with the work Z počátku husitství na Moravě. Šimon z Tišnova a January Vavrinec z RAČIĆ [From the beginnings of the Hussite movement in Moravia. Habilitation of Tischnowitz Simon and John Lawrence of Ratschitz ] at the Charles University. Since 1926 Odložilík lectured at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Czechoslovak history. In 1934 he was appointed extraordinary professor.

After the German occupation of the country Odložilík In 1939 he immigrated to the United States, where he worked successively at the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University and Columbia University. After the end of World War II Odložilík returned to Prague and taught from 1945 as full professor at the Charles University.

1948 followed Odložilík after the seizure of power by the Communists an invitation of his friend Prof SH Thomson as a visiting professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Later he taught at the University of Kansas and since 1949 as a professor of Czechoslovak history at Masaryk Institute at Columbia University. Odložilík received in 1950 the U.S. citizenship. In 1955 he was appointed professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked until his retirement in 1969. He died in 1973 during a research trip to Europe. His urn was buried according to his wish in George Washington Memorial Park in White March Township.

Publications (selection )

• M. Stepan z Kolína. Praha: Společnost Husova musea, 1924.
• Moravští exulanti Jiří a January Veselští - Laetové. Brno: nákladem vlastním, 1930.
• Karel Starší ze Žerotína 1564-1636. Praha: Melantrich, 1936.
• Povstalec a emigrant. Kapitoly z Dejin třicetileté války. Londýn: Čechoslovák, 1944.
• The Caroline University 1348 - 1948, Praha 1948
• Jan Hus, Chicago 1953
• Deníky let z 1924 - 1948, Praha 2002, ISBN 80-238-9887-6.