Vladimír Šmilauer – život onomastika

This article aims to be a contribution to our understanding of history of linguistic thinking in Czechoslovakia. It explores historical and scientific framework that was influencing deve-lopment of onomastic work of Vladimír Šmilauer during the 20th century. Main attention is paid to three periods of Šmilauer’s life: (i.) period of so called First Czechoslovak Republic, (ii.) period of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and (iii.) 1960’s and post 1968 period. His famous monographs are analyzed from the wider point of view of cultural policy. The scientific disputations and polemics are clarified using newly discovered archi-val documents.