Vojtěch Suk

Vojtěch Suk (18 September 1879 – 8 March 1967) was a Czech medical doctor, anthropologist, ethnographer, traveller and writer. In his medical and anthropological works he promoted comparative studies of people and races.

Early life and education Suk was born on 18 September 1879 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. He studied medicine, philosophy, and natural sciences at universities in Prague, Zurich, and Bologna. From 1905 to 1911 he studied for the PhD at the University of Zurich's medical and anthropological faculties. He later completed the Habilitation in 1919. He later completed medical studies for the MD in 1922. In 1923, he became a lecturer at what is now Masaryk University, and became a regular faculty member in 1929. An honorary doctor of sciences title (DrSC.) was bestowed on Suk in 1955.

From 1940 to 1945, while higher education institutions were closed during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during World War II, Suk worked as a doctor in a regional hospital in the town of Dvůr Králové nad Labem. At this time, Suk was investigated by the Gestapo for his views on the equality of human races. After 1945, he returned to Masaryk University.

Suk died on 8 March 1967 in Brno.

Selected writings In addition to scholarly publications on pharmacy and anthropology, Suk authored memoirs of his travels in Africa and Canada:

Vojtěch Suk, Africká dobrodružství [African Adventure] (Prague: Josef R. Vilímek, 1921). 101 pages, published in Czech. Vojtěch Suk, Po stopách Holubových; Lékařem na Labradoru: kniha o dobrodružném putování českého lékaře po černé Africe a drsném Severu [In the Steps of Holub, a Doctor in Labrador: A Book on the Adventurous Roaming of a Czech Doctor from Darkest Africa to the Bleak North] (Brno: Blok, 1975). Published in Czech.

Research materials Suk's ethnographic objects, library, and collection of photographs were left to the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African, and American Cultures. His personal papers are stored in the archives of the National Museum in Prague.