East European Quarterly/Volume 15/Number 1/František Palacký (1798-1876): A Centennial Appreciation

by Joseph Frederick Zacek

FRANTIŠEK PALACKÝ (1798–1876):
A CENTENNIAL APPRECIATION^[1]

 

Joseph Frederick Zacek
State University of New York at Albany

 

The studies that follow were originally presented, along with others, at an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the death of František Palacký, organized by me and held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in August, 1976. In all, twenty-five papers written by scholars from seven countries were presented, research papers and essays dealing with varied aspects of the life and career of the “Father of the Czech Nation.”

Commemorative volumes have been published on the anniversaries of Palacký’s birth and death in the past, notably in 1898, 1926, 1946 and 1968. The ten selections published here, however, comprise the first such cooperative effort ever published on Palacký outside the Czech lands. Some of the earlier collections included contributions by non-Czech authors-French, English, German, even American. Without exception, they were brief, general eulogies and reminiscences, quite unlike the serious scholarly treatments to be found here-in itself convincing evidence of how far the professional study of Czech history has come outside of the Czech lands, since Palacký himself launched the discipline. Like its predecessors, this anniversary work focuses on Palacký’s major roles–historian, statesman, mainspring of the Czech “National Awakening”–but it is more candid, I think, in evaluating his performance in them and in assessing the lasting worth of what he accomplished. Svejkovská’s detailed comparison of the Czech and German versions of Palacký’s History is unique, and in the absence of a proper scholarly biography of the man in any language, the intimate treatments of his personality and private life (including his relationships with women) by Hoffmannová and Šubrtová are particularly welcome.

Although the one-hundredth anniversary of Palacký’s death in 1976 was recognized as a “world cultural event” by no less a body than UNESCO, his own countrymen’s celebration of it has been disorganized, belated, and rather indecisive. Most active was the National Museum in Prague, which sponsored a two-day program of lectures in May, 1976, some of which were published in its own journal, the Časopis národního muzea, The Museum also struck a commemorative medal, prepared a short film on Palacký, and coordinated various exhibits and ceremonies elsewhere–at Palacký’s home and monument in Prague, his gravesite in Lobkovice, the Literary Archive of a the Museum of Czech Literature at Strahov, the State Central Archive, and Palacký University at Olomouc. A series of lectures was also presented by the venerable Historický klub in Prague.

As to publications, no official sborník has yet appeared, although one is reported in progress under the auspices of Charles University. As in the past, some of Palacký’s smaller works have been republished, and some compendia of excerpts from his writings have appeared. An entire issue of the Slovanský přehled was devoted to articles about him, and a new guide to the Palacký and Rieger family papers in the Archive of the National Museum was compiled by Hoffmannová. I expect to prepare a critical inventory of all publications connected with the 1976 centenary when they have finally appeared and reached me, together with all other publications on Palacký which have appeared since mid-1968 (including the ground-breaking studies of Josef Válka and Josef Haubelt). Works that appeared before mid-1968 have been listed and discussed in the bibliographical essay included in my Palacký: The Historian as Scholar and Nationalist, which appeared in 1970.

For assistance in preparing this publication, my thanks, first of all, to Dr. George Svoboda, for preparing the original English translations of the papers submitted by Czech authors; to Professor Josef Anderle, for co-chairing the symposium; to the other fifteen authors whose papers, purely for reasons of limited space, could not be printed here; to the group of American colleagues who generously agreed to present (and in some cases to prepare) abridged versions of the papers of authors who could not attend the symposium personally; to the State University of New York at Albany, for funds to cover translation and typing costs; to Ms. Andrea Merényi, for her efficient typing of the difficult manuscript; and–not the least–to Stephen Fischer-Galati, for agreeing to devote an issue of the East European Quarterly to the “Velký Čech.”

1. This issue of the East European Quarterly comprises selected papers presented at an international symposium commemorating the centenary of the death of “The Father of the Czech Nation,” held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on August 14, 1976. The papers have been edited by Joseph Frederick Zacek and the Czech translations are the work of George Svoboda.