Dějiny a osudy - In memorial historika Ivo Pejčocha – Plachý Jiří (2021)

During the more than ten years that I shared an office with Ivoš at the Military Historical Institute, I often heard him say one sentence: 'And we could write a little, charming article about this...' (or 'a small, charming book' if the topic was truly substantial). It came up regularly when we discussed new discoveries in the archive or just talked about interesting events in 20th-century history. I was by no means the only one; at the institute, and among our colleagues from other 'friendly' institutions, there was hardly anyone who had never heard this 'incantation' from Ivoš. His desire to describe things that had not yet been described was immense. He was interested in everything. And he was never far from action when it came to words. This is quite evident from his bibliography (for which I thank our colleagues from the VHÚ library – especially Radka Novobilská and also Zdeněk Munzar). In the few years that fate allowed him to professionally engage with history, he left behind much more than many an academic luminary. All of this without grants, scholarships, or 'creative time' for writing. The task of how to conceive a collection in his honor was therefore clear – contributors were to choose a topic related to...