doc. Dr. phil. Rudolf Kučera, Ph.D.

Director of the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague


______________________

Office hours by appointment

E-Mail: rudolf.kucera@uni-konstanz.de


Research Areas

  • Comparative and Transnational History of the 19th and 20th Century (especially Central and East-Central Europe)
  • Cultural History of Work
  • History of Modern Wars and Violence
  • History of Late Socialism and Postsocialist Transformation
  • History of Historiography
  • History of Science in Central Europe

Recent Publications

Books

Paths out of the Apocalypse. Physical Violence in the Fall and Renewal of Central Europe, 1914-1922, Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press 2022, Co-authored with Ota Konrád 

Rationed Life. Science, Everyday Life, and Working Class Politics in the Bohemian Lands, 1914-1918. Berghahn Books, Oxford – New York 2019 (Paperback) 2016 (Hardback).

Cesty z Apokalypsy. Fyzické násilí v pádu a obnově střední Evropy 1914-1922 [Out of the Apocalypse. Physical Violence in the Fall and Reconstruction of Central Europe 1914-1922]. Academia Verlag, Prag 2018. Co-authored with Ota Konrád 

Staat, Adel und Elitenwandel. Die Adelsverleihungen in Schlesien und Böhmen 1806-1871 im Vergleich. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2012.

Journal Articles

Exploting Victory, Bewailing Defeat: Uniformed Violence in the Creation of the New Order in Czechoslovakia and Austria 1918–1922. Journal of Modern History 88 (2016), Nr. 4, pp. 827-855.

Facing Marxist Orthodoxy: Western Marxism, The Making, and the Communist Historiographies of Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1948–1990. International Review of Social History 61 (2016), Nr. 1, pp. 35-50.

Wobec dogmatizmu. Zachodni marksizm, The Making of the English Working Class i komunistyczne historiografie w NRD, Czechoslowacji i Polsce 1948-1990. Stan Rzeczy 10 (2016) Nr. 1, pp. 144-166.

Making Standards Work. Semantics of Economic Reform in Czechoslovakia 1985–1992. Zeithistorische, Forschungen / Studies in Contemporary History 12 (2015), Nr. 3, pp. 427-447.

Marginalizing Josefina. Work, Gender and Protest in Bohemia 1820-1844. Journal of Social History 46 (2012), Nr. 2, pp. 430-448.

Muži ve válce, válka v mužích. Maskulinity a světové války 20. století v současné kulturní historiografii [Men in War, War in Men. Masculinities and World Wars of the 20th Century in Contemporary Cultural History]. Soudobé dějiny 19 (2011), Nr. 4, pp. 549-562.

Středovýchodní, střední, centrální. Střední Evropa v německojazyčné historiografii 1950-2010 [East-Central, Central, Zentral. Central Europe in the German-speaking Historiography 1950-2010]. Slovo a smysl 10 (2011), Nr. 2, pp. 32-46.

Chapters in Collective Volumes

Losing Manliness: Bohemian Workers and the Experience of the Home Front. In Bürgschwentner, J.; Egger, M.; Barth-Scalman, G. (ed.). Other Fronts, Other Wars? First World War Studies on the Eve of the Centennial. Boston: Brill, 2014. pp. 331-348.

Politika. In Storchová, L. (ed.). Koncepty a dějiny. Proměny pojmů v současné historické vědě. Praha: Scriptorium, 2014. pp. 133-145.

Entbehrung und Nationalismus. Die Erfahrung tschechischer Soldaten der österreichisch-ungarischen Armee 1914-1918. In Bachinger, B.; Dornik, W. (ed.). Jenseits des Schützengrabens. Der Erste Weltkrieg im Osten: Erfahrung – Wahrnehmung – Kontext. Wien : Studienverlag, 2013. pp. 121-137.

Úvod: Kategorie identity v současné historiografii. In Kučera, R. (ed.). Identity v českých zemích 19. a 20. století: Hledání a proměny. Praha : Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, 2012, pp. 8-23. Co-authored with Martina Power

Philanthropy and Public Donation Striving for the State Recognition. The Bohemian Ennoblements 1806-1871. In Hlavačka, M. (ed.). Collective and Individual Patronage and the Culture of Public Donation in Civil Society in the 19th and 20th Centuries in Central Europe. Praha: Institute of History, 2010. pp. 194-209.

Academic CV

Education

2008
Joint Dr.Phil-PhD Degree in Modern and Comparative History of Europe, Free University Berlin and Charles University Prague

2004
MA in Modern History, Charles University Prague

Employment History

From 2021: Visiting Professor, Department of History and Sociology, University of Konstanz

2020 – present: Director of the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

2017 – present: Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague

2014 – 2020: Deputy Director for Research, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

3/2019 – 6/2019: Visiting Professor at the Institute for East-European History,University of Vienna

10/2013-9/2014: Senior Fellow, Imre Kertész Kolleg, University of Jena

2012-2013: Head of Department for Research and Source Editions, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

10/2009–9/2010: Junior Fellow, School of History, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Freiburg im Breisgau

2009-2012: Permanent Researcher, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague