Jiří Majer

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Jiří Majer (born November 25, 1922 in Teplitz-Schönau , † February 3, 2008 in Prague ) was a Czech mining historian, archivist and museologist. He was the founder of the Mining and Metallurgy Department of the National Technical Museum, the Příbram Mining Museum and the III. Resistance.

Life

The son of a Czech teacher couple grew up in Teplitz, where he got to know mining in the North Bohemian lignite area as a child. After 1930 he moved back with his parents to their hometown Podlesí , where he completed his high school education. He was unable to study in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia because the Czech universities were closed on November 17, 1939. Together with his father, who had taken over the post of school director in Příbram, Majer joined the anti-fascist resistance. At the beginning of the 1940s he was sent to Germany as a slave laborer and thus survived the Nazi era. The resistance group, to which his father was still a member, was evacuated by the Gestapo in 1943 and his father was murdered in Brandenburg-Görden on February 19, 1945 on the basis of a death sentence by the People's Court .

After the liberation from the German occupation, Majer returned to Czechoslovakia in May 1945 and studied history and the Czech language at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague . In 1948 he completed his dissertation on the mining history of Příbram in the 16th century. From 1950 Majer studied at the State Archive School attached to the Philosophical Faculty. His specialist thesis for a qualified archivist included the subject of mining organization up to the 18th century.

Afterwards Majer worked at the Národní technické muzeum (NTM) in Prague and in 1952 built a show mine in the museum cellar. From 1954 he headed the mining and metallurgy department he founded. In the same year Majer arranged the purchase of the mineralogical collection of the ore mines Příbram. Since the 1970s, Majer has led a project to design the Příbram Mining Museum, which has been implemented since 1978.

After the Velvet Revolution , Majer devoted himself to coming to terms with the history of political prisoners in Czechoslovakia and created the concept for the building of the III. Resistance in the Příbram Ernestinum. The foundation of the memorial in the former forced labor camp and prison for political prisoners Vojna in Lešetice near Příbram can also be traced back to Majer's work. Majer was the author of a large number of specialist publications.

literature

  • Josef Velfl, Ulrich Haag: PhDr. Jiří Majer, Csc. deceased. In: The cut . Vol. 60, No. 2, 2008, (obituary)

Publications

  • as editor: Dolování v Jáchymově 1516–1966. Sborník statí přednesených na symposiu "450leté výročí otevření jáchymovského ložiska" (= Rozpravy Národního technického muzea Praze. 26, ZDB -ID 258800-6 ). Národní technické muzeum, Prague 1967, (Mining in Sankt Joachimsthal from 1516 to 1966).
  • Těžba cínu ve Slavkovském read v 16. století (= Sborník Národního technického muzea Praze. 9, ZDB -ID 445400-5 ). Národní technické muzeum, Prague 1970, (Tin mining in the Imperial Forest in the 16th century).
  • as editor: Z Dějin hornictvi a hutnictvi. Statě přednesené na pracovnich seminářich v Praze v roce 1968 (= Rozpravy Národního technického muzea Praze. 39). Národní technické muzeum, Prague 1970, (On the history of mining and metallurgy).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Majer, Jiří
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech mining historian, archivist and museologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Teplice
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 2008
Place of death Prague