Place of employment: Military Historical Archives in Prague

Address: Pilotů 217/12, 161 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic

E-mail: oshv@seznam.cz

Vladimír Pilát studied history and Russian at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague. At the then Czechoslovak Institute of Czechoslovak- and World History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1990, he defended his Candidate Work The question of the defence contribution of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949–1954. He dealt in particular with the military history of the Second World War and of the conflicts after 1945. During his work at the Historical Institute of the Army of the Czech Republic he participated in important international conferences and projects (e.g., W. Heinemann – Norbert Wiggerhaus (edd.): Das Internationale Krisenjahr 1956: Polen, Hungary, Suez,München, Oldenburg Verlag 1999). Among other outcomes, he is a co-author of the successful two-volume publication The History of European Civilization, Prague – Litomyšl, Paseka 1995, and Dearly paid Freedom: Liberation of Czechoslovakia 1944–1945, Prague – Litomyšl, Paseka 2008. Since 2004 he has worked on creating electronic databases in the Military Historical Archives in Prague and translating German, English and Russian books.

Work and research experience

• 1985 – 1990:Institute of Czech and World History, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
• 1990 – 2002: Military Historical Institute (later Historical Institute of the Army of the Czech Republic), senior researcher
• 2004 – 2019: Military Historical Archives in Prague, research fellow

Previous outcomes related to the project

• Database of the soldiers of the Czechoslovak army-in-exile during the Second World War. Military Historical Archives in Prague 2005–2013 (with Z. Maršálek, M. Brož, P. Hofman and others).