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Walter Kolarz

British scholar (1912–1962)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ4227567
Source-derived summary

Walter Jean Kolarz (26 April 1912 - 21 July 1962) was a British-based scholar of the communist world who wrote widely on ethnic and religious issues.

Kolarz was born in Teplitz-Schonau, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied at Charles University in Prague, then moved to Berlin to work as a journalist. However, he was expelled by the Nazis in 1936. He moved to Paris, before fleeing to London in 1940.

Kolarz worked as a journalist for United Press of America, before joining the BBC in 1949, specialising as an analyst on Soviet and East European affairs.

Kolarz married Alexandra Lipovsky in 1939 (she died in March 2000) and they had one son.

Kolarz died in hospital in Kensington, London, on 21 July 1962.

A number of Kolarz' books were compiled by others in the wake of his early death.

Books

Stalin and Eternal Russia, 1944

Myths and Realities in Eastern Europe, 1946

Russia and Her Colonies.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Walter Kolarz” as british scholar (1912–1962). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Walter, Kolarz and British.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1912, 1962, 1936, 1940—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1912-04-26, 1912-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Walter, Kolarz and British providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Walter Kolarz”, the useful work is to connect “british scholar (1912–1962)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4227567. VIAF identifies the subject as 2949718. The Library of Congress control number is nb99069026. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1962, 1936 and 1940.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Walter Kolarz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.