Otakar Odložilík was born 12 th January 1899 in Kostelec near Holešov. He attended elementary school in his native town and classics grammar school in Přerov (1910-1914), Valašské Meziříčí (1915) and Kroměříž (1916-1917). He entered military service in 1917 and as soon as he had returned from the army he started studying history at the Charles University Philosophy Faculty (1918-1922). He completed his studies in 1923 with a study on the Czech Brethren and Zwingli. From 1920 to 1923 he also studied at the State Archives School and he joined the Interior Ministry Archives 1.10.1923.
He took a second doctorate at the Charles University Philosophy Faculty in 1926 and became an assistant professor in 1934. His academic and personal life was significantly affected by his work as a lector at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at London University from 1928 to 1930, where he became expertly acquainted with the Anglo-Saxon environment, the literature and the archive resources, and from which he arranged for a great deal of research work and personal contacts for his Czech colleagues. He spent the war-years in London and the USA, where he worked for the Czechoslovak Resistance under Edvard Beneš.
Because of his specialist and organizational activity he was elected extraordinary member of the RBLS (1930) and the Slavonic Institute in Prague, he worked as co-editor of the Matice Moravské magazine (1931) and after the war in 1946 he also became a CASA member. His post-war Prague period was highly active with university work, journalism and lecturing to American military units. He was chosen as a government expert for a UNESCO conference, represented the Czechoslovak historical society abroad, took part in discussions on the establishment of an international peace university at Lugano and more.
In 1948, he again left for America with official permission and a valid passport and in 1955 he became an American citizen. In spite of many difficulties he successfully found a place for himself at American universities and his services were greatly valued.
In the specialist works that he wrote throughout his life, O. Odložilík excelled as an expert in pre-Hussite, Hussite and Reformation currents of thought and in the emigration of the Czech Brethren. His knowledge of sources based on the study of archives at home and abroad brought fruit as early as the 1920s in his monographs on the religious reformers and in the 1930s he also took part in synthetic analyses of Czech history. He also contributed in a valuable way to research on the modern epoch in Czech history with his work at the Interior Ministry archives. The greatest synthetic work from the concluding period of his life was The Hussite King in 1965, with the subtitle: Bohemia in European Affairs 1440-1471 defining the wider aim of the work, which was destined for a world audience. In his journalistic work he often referred to J. Hus, Masaryk, J.A. Komenský, F. Palacký, K. Havlíček Borovský, he brought up the history of Prague University, considered the issues surrounding Czech-German coexistence, the fate of Czech emigrants in the 16th and 17th centuries and the significance of this emigration. He also made independent studies out of individual deliberations on the twenty years of the First Republic, national consciousness and traditions and their overall changes. Odložilík's studies brought Czech history to a broader world audience right up to the end of his life. He died in July 1973.
Written by Magdalena Pokorna
American-Czech relations
Extensive correspondence, e.g.: Robert J. Kerner (4), 1933 - 1935, Oliver H. Radkey (9+2), 1935 - 1944, G. S. Thomson (16), 1933 - 1944. Sign. II, b. 2, 3.
Board of Economic Warfare (5+4), 1942, Columbia University (1), 1942, New-Yorské Listy (2), 1944. Sign. II, b. 3.
Lectures and reports, e.g.: "I have often been asked here in America", 4 pp, English. Sign.IIIb/22, b. 6. Relations between United States and Czechoslovakia, 5 pp, English, 28. 5. 1942. Sign. IIIb/47, b. 8. Undaunted Czechoslovakia, 15 sheets, English, 1942. Sign.IIIb/56, b. 8. The United States and Czechoslovakia, 3 different versions, each 1 pp, English. Sign. IIIb/57, b. 8. con gress of American Historians, 1 pp. Sign. IIIc/53, b. 9.
Popularizing articles: American campus, 10 pp. Sign. IIIe/1, b. 9. Czech New York Will Never Die, 4 pp. Sign. IIIe/21, b. 9. Iowa, 2 versions, 5 pp, 8 pp. Sign. IIIe/40, b. 7. Critical summer. Journey to Oklahoma and Texas, 7 pp. Sign. IIIe/49, b. 9. The US at War, 5 pp. Sign. IIIe/95, b. 10.
Documentation of O. Odložilík's activities in the USA, e.g.: S. H. Thomson - award of the state prize, copy and draft - June 1944. Sign. IV/197, b. 13. S. H. Thomson - professorship at the Institute of Central European Affairs, Cornell University, transcript of a letter by G.W. Sabine (1), 1944. Sign. IV/198, b. 13. Masaryk Institute in New York (information on the opportunities for placements of Czechoslovak students in the USA), letter, 7 sheets, Czech typescript, copy, 4 sheets, 14. 6. 1944. Sign. IV/136, b. 13. Masaryk Institute in New York, report on activities for 1943, 8 sheets. Sign. IV/137 - 140, b. 13. Papánek Dr. Jan, introductory speech to the symposium " Morals and Sabotage in the Occupied Territories", 9 pp, 3. 7. 1941. Sign. IV/166, b. 13. Professorship of Slavonic studies in the United States, copy - confidential report, 5 pp. Sign. IV/182 - 183, b. 13. Professorship of Czechoslovak studies at the Institute of Central European Affairs, Cornell University - various correspondence, 1944. Sign.IV/184, b. 13. The Expanding concept of Democracy by C. C. Eckhardt, University of Colorado, 26. 8. 1939, 22 pp. Sign. IV/33, b. 13. United States Committee on Educational Reconstruction, copies of letters, minutes of meeting, 1944. Sign. IV/39, b. 13. Rouček J. S. - confidential report on him. Sign. IV/191, b. 13. Compatriots organizations in the USA (information and various material). Sign.IV/116 - 119, b. 13. Dr. J. Kraus, envoy (copies of letters, notes for him relating to the Institute of Central European Affairs in the USA (Prof. S. H. Thomson and V. Kybal), 1944 - 1945. Sign. IV/120 - 124, b. 13. Kybal Dr. Vlastimil (copies of letters from the Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington addressed to the Czechoslovak Information Service in New York and elsewhere on the proposals of V. Kybal to establish a professorship of American Studies at Charles University), 1944. Sign. IV/132 - 134, b. 13. International University in Prague - proposal for establishment by V. Kybal (transcripts and copies of letters, draft statutes). Sign. IV/142 - 145, b. 13. University of Colorado, history examination requirements, list of candidates, 1940. Sign. IV/287, b. 13. University activities of O. Odložilík in the USA, test materials, lists of attending students and more. Sign. IV/290, b. 13.
Other materials from Czechoslovaks in US exile, e.g.: Reports of the Czechoslovak National Council in America. Press service in Chicago (surveys of the American press). Czechoslovak Information Service in New York. All duplicated typescripts, 1940 - 1942. Sign. VII/G, b. 16.