We were deeply saddened to learn that Associate Professor Jiří Pernes—an esteemed Moravian historian and longtime external lecturer at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University—passed away on the night of May 21st at the age of 76.
Associate Professor Jiří Pernes, PhDr., Dr., was a respected expert in the modern history of the Czech lands, an outstanding lecturer, and a passionate public historian. Since 2012, he had been teaching at our faculty as an external instructor, offering courses on Czechoslovak politics after World War II. Throughout his time in the classroom, he was known for his profound knowledge, personal dedication, and remarkable ability to convey complex historical topics clearly and engagingly—always with respect for diverse interpretations of the past.
Jiří Pernes studied history and the Czech language at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Brno (now Masaryk University), where he also completed postgraduate studies in museology. He earned his doctoral degree in 1996 and completed his habilitation in history in 2008. He also initiated the process of being nominated and getting appointed the title of professor, which he was unfortunately unable to complete due to serious illness.
He worked in a number of academic institutions, spending the longest part of his career—from 1994 until this year—at the Institute for Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he led the Brno branch from 2003 to 2017. A significant part of his professional life was also dedicated to museum work, including serving as director of the Moravian Museum in Brno.
Jiří Pernes authored dozens of scholarly and popular history publications, for which he received several prestigious awards, including the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize and the City of Brno Award. Among his most recent works of note are the monumental Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české XVII. (1948–1956) (Great History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown XVII: 1948–1956, Prague, Paseka 2022) and Na prahu socialismu. Československo v letech 1956–1960 (On the Threshold of Socialism: Czechoslovakia in the Years 1956–1960, Prague, Academia 2025).
With the passing of Jiří Pernes, the Faculty of Social Studies has lost not only a respected historian, but also a colleague and teacher who greatly enriched both our teaching and the public discourse on the modern history of our country. We remember him with deep respect and gratitude.
This spring marks twenty-five years since I completed my master’s degree in history. At that time, there were no full-time faculty members at the Faculty of Arts in Brno who focused on Czech history after 1945. He was the only one who gave us lectures on the subject—as an external instructor—and his lectures were truly captivating. That’s why I approached him to be the actual (not just formal) supervisor of my thesis, which I later published in the fall of 2000 as my first book: Miloval jsem okrasu domu Tvého. Bludovský monstrproces 1950–1952 (I Have Loved the Beauty of Your House: The Bludov Show Trial 1950-1952). Since he didn’t have an office at the faculty, our consultations took place at his home.
In the years that followed, I often met with him professionally, and later also personally—on the Academic Council of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, at events organized by CDK, at gatherings with friends, and elsewhere.
About fourteen years ago, when I realized how serious the gaps were in our incoming students’ knowledge of contemporary Czech history, I reached out to him—and from that point on, he taught at FSS every year: in one semester, Czech political history from 1948 to 1968, and in the other, the years 1969 to 1989. Students regularly attended his lectures in large numbers, even though they weren’t mandatory.
In recent months, he had been battling a serious illness. We knew it was a fight he could not win—but he faced it with great courage.
I first met Jiří Pernes in 1996, when I—somewhat by chance—got involved as a student in his campaign for the newly formed Senate. He didn’t win that election, nor did he succeed in his later occasional forays into politics. But what he may have lacked in political success, he more than made up for as a historian. He stood out not only for his prolific writing, but above all for his remarkable ability to masterfully capture a topic—whether it was his beloved stories of the final Habsburgs, the history of Moravia, or one of the crossroads of Czech history in the twentieth century.
I’ll also never forget his gift for storytelling—whether I was listening as a student years ago or later as a guest at one of his birthday celebrations. Jiří had a rare talent for it, and it was both remarkable and deeply inspiring. He was, quite simply, a charismatic historian/storyteller.
Equally remarkable was his determination to fight an illness that gave him little chance. When we were arranging his course at the faculty late last year, we both knew it might be for the last time. When I asked him whether he was concerned about lecturing in front of dozens of students—with the risk of catching a cold or an infection that, in his case, could have fatal consequences—he gave me a response that was so typically him: “Should I just sit at home and wait for death?” He continued teaching almost until the very end of the spring semester.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, held a discussion with students at the Faculty of Social Studies. Nearly two hundred students filled the lecture hall to capacity, and the event was covered by student media outlets Radio R, MUNI TV, Studex, Atrium, and Stisk.
On November 8th, more than seven hundred high school students spent their Saturday exploring the cozy corners of our faculty. In addition to experiencing the atmosphere of our classrooms, they also received valuable insights from current FSS MUNI students. Furthermore, they learned a great deal about the admissions process and the study programs at the faculty from the Office for Studies. That was this year’s Open Day at our faculty. The next major event for prospective students at FSS MUNI will be the Open Day on January 16th.
