Smail Balić (26 August 1920 – 14 March 2002) was a Bosnian-Austrian historian, culturologist and scholar. Most of his life was spent abroad. He was employed at various archival and historicist positions, especially in German-speaking countries. Until 1986 he performed a number of significant scientific and archival functions such as a researcher of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, a member of the Association of Austrian writers, and a corresponding member of the Jordanian Islamic Academy science. He died in Vienna in 2002.

Biography

Balić was born 26 August 1920 (although a few sources give 20 August 1920) in

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, to a Muslim

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

family. In 1995, Balić received the

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

Bibliography

*''Kultura Bošnjaka'' (1973) *''Ruf vom Minaret'' (1984) *''Das unbekannte Bosnien'' (1992)

References

1920 births 2002 deaths Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims 20th-century Austrian historians Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Yugoslav emigrants to Austria Austrian expatriates in Germany Cultural history of Bosnia and Herzegovina {{austria-bio-stub