Oldřich Tůma

Oldřich Tůma deals with contemporary history: the history of Czechoslovakia after 1945, the history of the Cold War. His original research focus was on medieval and Byzantine history.

After graduation (1969) he studied history and philosophy at FFUK. In 1975, he was expelled from studies for political reasons. He completed his studies remotely (1980; PhDr. 1982). PhD. at FSVUK 2007.

After being expelled from his studies, he worked in various non-academic jobs (worker, assistant educator, archivist). At the same time, he devoted himself to research in the field of Byzantine history, occasionally publishing in foreign and domestic magazines. In 1989, he joined the then Institute of Classical Studies of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, with whose Byzantine department he had previously collaborated (eg incognito in the Byzantinoslavica magazine). In 1992, resp. In 1993, after returning from a study stay at the National Humanities Center at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, he moved to the Institute of Contemporary History, and in 1998-2017 he was its director.

Oldřich Tůma was or is a member of domestic and foreign scientific bodies. Among others: member of postgraduate study boards at FSVUK or FFP Silesian University; member of the editorial board of the journals Soudobé dějiny, Journal of Cold War History, Jahrbuch für historische Kommunisforschung; member of the scientific board of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity or Hannah Arendt Institut für Totalitarismusforschung at the Technical University in Dresden. He has been a member of the Scientific Council of the ASCR since 2017.