Dušan Třeštík (1 August 1933 – 23 August 2007) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. He specialized in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

history ( Dark Ages (500–1000)) of the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

and theory of history. Třeštík was born in 1933 in

Sobědruhy Sobědruhy () is an administrative part of the city of Teplice in the Czech Republic. Geography Sobědruhý lies about above sea level. The highest point is about above sea level. History Traditionally, Sobědruhy was a town in Bohemia, whos ...

, now a part of the city of

Teplice Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...

. He studied history at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

from 1951 to 1956 where his tutor was František Graus. After two years at the Charles University, since 1958 he worked in the Historic Institute of the Academy of Science and Arts. In his later years he was prominent in its Centre of Medieval Studies. In 1959 he married historian Barbara Krzemieńska and in 1968 he studied in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Třeštík was a stark defender of veracity Kristián's legend. As a theorist of history he criticised the neopositivist approach of the mainstream Czech history scholarship and its icon Josef Pekař. He labeled it as ''faktopis''. Since 1989 he also published a lot of political texts (collected as ''Češi. Jejich národ, stát, dějiny a pravdy v transformaci'', 1999), especially in

Lidové Noviny ''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record. It is a national news daily covering po ...

(from 1993 to 1996 he was a member of its editorial board) and

Mladá Fronta Dnes ''Mladá fronta Dnes'' (), also known as ''MF Dnes'' or simply ''Dnes'', is a daily newspaper based in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Euro ...

. He criticised

Sudeten Germans German Bohemians ( ; ), later known as Sudeten Germans ( ; ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constitute ...

, but he joined Impuls 99 despite being close to Václav Klaus. After 9/11 Třeštík was sceptical towards neoconservative politics and the invasion of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He died in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 2007.

Works

# ''Kosmova kronika: Studie k počátkům českého dějepisectví a politického myšlení'' (1968) # ''Románské umění v Čechách a na Moravě'' (1983) # ''Počátky Přemyslovců'' (1981) # ''Počátky Přemyslovců: Vstup Čechů do dějin (510–935)'' (1997) # ''Mysliti dějiny'' (1999) # ''Češi: Jejich národ, stát, dějiny a pravdy v transformaci'' (1999) # ''Vznik Velké Moravy: Moravané, Čechové a střední Evropa v letech 781–871'' (2001) # ''Mýty kmene Čechů (7. – 10. století): Tři studie ke Starým pověstem českým'' (2003) # ''Češi a dějiny v postmoderním očistci'' (2005)

References

External links

Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trestik, Dusan 1933 births 2007 deaths People from Teplice 20th-century Czech historians Czech medievalists Charles University alumni