View source for Jan Křen

{{Short description|Czech historian (1930–2020)}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Jan Křen
| image        = Jan-Křen-(2014).jpg
| image_size   =
| caption      = Jan Křen in 2014
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=y|1930|8|22}}
| birth_place = [[Prague]], [[Czechoslovakia]]
| height =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2020|4|7|1930|8|22}}
| death_place  = Prague, [[Czech Republic]]
| occupation   = Historian
| website      =
| spouse       =
| children     =
}}
'''Jan Křen''' (22 August 1930 – 7 April 2020) was a Czech [[historian]], academic, dissident during [[Czechoslovakia]]'s [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|communist era]], and a [[Charter 77]] signatory. He specialized in the study of [[Czech Republic–Germany relations|Czech-German relations]].<ref name=rp>{{cite news |first=Ian |last=Willoughby |title=Historian Jan Křen dies at 89 after contracting coronavirus |url=https://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/historian-jan-kren-dies-at-89-after-contracting-coronavirus |work=[[Radio Prague]] |date=2020-04-08 |access-date=2020-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409222157/https://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/historian-jan-kren-dies-at-89-after-contracting-coronavirus |archive-date=2020-04-09 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ir>{{cite news |title=Zemřel historik Jan Křen. S nemocí covid-19 se léčil v Nemocnici Na Bulovce  |url=https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/veda/jan-kren-zemrel-historik_2004071856_cen |work={{ill|iROZHLAS|cs}} |date=2020-04-07 |access-date=2020-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407210307/https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/veda/jan-kren-zemrel-historik_2004071856_cen |archive-date=2020-04-07 |url-status=live|language=cs}}</ref><ref name=denik>{{cite news |title=Zemřel historik Jan Křen, zaměřoval se na česko-německé vztahy
|url=https://www.denik.cz/z_domova/zemrel-historik-jan-kren-20200407.html |work=[[Denik]] |date=2020-04-07 |access-date=2020-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409235835/https://www.denik.cz/z_domova/zemrel-historik-jan-kren-20200407.html |archive-date=2020-04-09 |url-status=live|language=cs}}</ref>
==Biography==
During the 1960s, Jan Křen became one of the first Czechoslovak historians to document and research the [[Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia|expulsion]] of the [[Sudeten Germans]] from the country at the end of [[World War II]].<ref name=ir/> Křen was originally a member of the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] from 1949 to 1969, but was expelled in 1970 over his opposition to the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Warsaw Pact invasion]].<ref name=rp/><ref name=ir/> He was also fired from his job as a professor and was forced to work as a [[manual labor]]er.<ref name=ir/>
He became involved with the pro-democracy dissident movement. He was one of the founding signatories of [[Charter 77]] and began holding a series of underground seminars held covertly in apartments and universities.<ref name=rp/><ref name=ir/>
Křen was also a co-founder of the [[Samizdat]] historical studies journal.<ref name=ir/> In the 1980s, he published one of his best known books, "Conflicting Communities. Czechs and Germans 1780–1918", through his own Sixty-Eight Publishers, an illegal, underground publisher. The book was later published in [[Germany]].<ref name=ir/>
In 1989, Křen founded the Institute of International Studies at [[Charles University]] and served as its first director.<ref name=ir/>
<ref name=fss>{{cite news |title=Professor Jan Křen, founder of the Institute of International Studies, died  |url=https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/professor-jan-kren-founder-institute-international-studies-died |work=Faculty of Social Services at [[Charles University]] |date=2020-04-07 |access-date=2020-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409235114/https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/professor-jan-kren-founder-institute-international-studies-died |archive-date=2020-04-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> He also co-founded and chaired the Czech-German Commission of Historians and was involved with the Czech-German Fund of the Future.<ref name=ir/> Křen was a visiting professor at German universities in [[Berlin]], [[Bremen]] and [[Marburg]].<ref name=ir/>
The [[President of Germany]] awarded Jan Křen the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000.<ref name=ir/> In 2002, [[Czech Republic]] [[President of the Czech Republic|President]] [[Vaclav Havel]], a fellow Charter 77 signatory, awarded Křen the [[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|Medal of Merit]].<ref name=rp/> He also won the 2006 [[Magnesia Litera]] [[book award]] for best educational book for "Two Centuries of Central Europe."<ref name=ir/>
Křen is believed to have contracted [[COVID-19]] at the nursing home where he lived in the [[Michle]] district of Prague in March 2020.<ref name=rp/> He died from the illness on 7 April 2020, at the age of 89 during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic]].<ref name=rp/><ref name=ir/><ref name=denik/>
==Awards==
*[[Goethe Medal]] (1996)
*[[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] (2000)<ref name=ir/>
*[[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic]] (2002)<ref name=rp/>
*[[Magnesia Litera|Magnesia Litera Award]] for educational literature book of the year (2006)<ref name=ir/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
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[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Czech historians]]
[[Category:Czech non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Czechoslovak historians]]
[[Category:Charter 77 signatories]]
[[Category:Czech democracy activists]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians]]
[[Category:Czech Republic–Germany relations]]
[[Category:Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Charles University]]
[[Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Writers from Prague]]