In memoriam: Jan Hajda, 1927-2018 JAN HAJDA, a PSU professor emeritus of sociology who endured German occupation of his homeland as a child and fled Czechoslovakia after the Communist coup of 1948, died June 9 at age 91. Professor Hajda was the second of three sons born to Josef Hajda and Anna Hajda, née Cechova, in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. He grew up in the small, historic city of Kromeriz, lived through the six-year German occupation that ended in 1945, then entered college in Prague with his older brother, Joseph. The Communist coup in 1948 sparked the Hajda brothers and thousands of other students to protest, and thousands fled the country. After being questioned by the secret police, Professor Hajda, like his brother before him, fled to Germany, leaving parents and younger brother Alois behind. After two months in an International Refugee Organization (IRO) camp in Germany, the brothers were sent to another IRO camp in Naples, Italy. Professor Hajda stayed in the camp for two years awaiting an opportunity to enter the United States. A Czech in Washington, D.C., agreed to sponsor him under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, and he left for the U.S. in 1950. Three days after landing in New York, Professor Hajda left for Oregon to attend Willamette University, which had offered him a scholarship. After graduating from Willamette in 1952, he continued his sociology studies at the University of Chicago, earning an M.A. in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1963. It was in Chicago that Professor Hajda met his future wife, Yvonne Phillips. They were married in 1956, the same year he became an American citizen. Professor Hajda began his academic career at Johns Hopkins University, serving as an assistant professor from 1959 to 1963. He also taught at the University of California, Riverside, from 1963 to 1967. He joined Portland State in 1967 and remained at PSU until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1994. Professor Hajda was a Fulbright Scholar in 1966-1967 and 1991-1992. He was a member of the American Association of University Professors, American Sociological Association, Pacific Sociological Association, International Sociological Association, Western Slavic Association, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, and Fulbright Association. In his retirement, Professor Hajda kept in touch with friends and family both in the United States and in Europe, followed closely developments in sociology and current events, and read widely in Czech and English. He is survived by his wife, Yvonne; his younger brother, Alois; and five nieces and three nephews. His older brother, Joseph, predeceased him. Remembrances may be made to Willamette University; alumni.willamette.edu/donation-form. —Doug Swanson —Photograph from PSU Archives 4
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