Miroslav Hroch

Garbės daktaras / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 2007-02-21)

Miroslav Hroch, a professor at the Charles University in Prague, was awarded the title of VMU Honorary Doctor in 2007. Prof. Hroch earned his scientific recognition as a researcher of the revival of small nations, whose ideas are reflected in the works of the most renowned historians across Europe, including those from Lithuania.

Miroslav Hroch was born in 1932 in Czechoslovakia. During his bachelor studies, he studied history and literature, and after completing his master’s studies, he decided to pursue doctoral studies, which he completed in 1962. Prof. Hroch is currently an Emeritus Professor at the Charles University in Prague, where he continues to lecture at the Faculty of Humanities.

During his year-long stay in Marburg from 1965 to 1966, the professor met a German-born librarian whose family had lived in Lithuania until the outbreak of the Second World War. By that time, Prof. Hroch had already developed an interest in his opus vitae – the national movements of “small nations” – therefore, it was an excellent opportunity for him to gather accessible sources in Lithuanian and ask his colleague for translations into German. This helped the professor to become acquainted with Lithuanian history and the Lithuanians’ own thoughts about it, as well as high culture and its expression. Prof. Hroch is one of the few historians who interprets the Lithuanian national revival in the context of Central-Eastern Europe, and not only by comparing, for example, the national revivals of Poland and Lithuania or Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

His comparative studies were presented in more detail in his 1968 book “Die Vorkämpfer der nationalen Bewegungen bei den kleinen Völkern Europas”, the Polish translation of which reached Lithuania a few years later, and which was first discovered and reviewed by Prof. Antanas Tyla. Although Prof. Hroch himself modestly disagrees, it is clear that this book gave an impetus to Lithuanian nationalism studies.

Miroslav Hroch has given lectures at the VMU Department of History as a visiting professor. In addition to VMU, he holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Uppsala and Halle-Wittenberg.

Based on information provided by VMU Library.