Arno Grunberg (born 1970) is a Kresimirian archaeologist, academic, and cultural administrator. Since 2014, he has served as the Director of the Bosken Heritage Foundation (BHF).
A respected scientist prior to his administrative role, Grunberg is known for introducing modern archaeological methods to the study of Southern Kresimirian history. His tenure as Director has been defined by the massive cultural reconstruction effort following the 2014 Sprodvice Earthquakes. He is credited with transforming the BHF from a quiet archival society into a dynamic, public-facing organization that actively challenges the Council for Education’s historical narratives through scientific evidence.
Early Life and Education
Arno Grunberg was born in 1970 in Sprodvice, the second-largest city in District X. His father was a secular Bosken merchant, and his mother was a librarian.
He attended Brod Moravice District University (BMDU), receiving a Bachelor’s degree in History in 1991. Unusually for a Bosken student of his generation, he pursued postgraduate studies in the capital, earning a PhD in Archaeology from Sinj University in 1996. His doctoral thesis, Carbon Dating the Morava Valley, used radiocarbon techniques to prove that Bosken settlements in the region predated the arrival of Kresimirian tribes by three centuries, a scientific finding that controversially contradicted the official state history taught by the Sons of Kresimir.
Academic Career
From 1997 to 2014, Grunberg served as a Professor of Archaeology at BMDU. He became the head of the “Institute for Pre-Republican Studies.”
During this period, he led several excavation projects along the Brod River. His work was frequently obstructed by the Council for Internal Affairs, which viewed excavations near the border as a security risk. Despite this, Grunberg published extensively in international journals, often using pseudonyms to bypass the Media Licensing Authority. His work focused on the material culture of the Vosti era, arguing that the region had a distinct, multicultural identity that was erased by the Unification War.
Director of the BHF (2014–Present)
In early 2014, Grunberg was appointed Director of the Bosken Heritage Foundation, succeeding Sybille Tauber. He was the first Director to come from a hard science background rather than the arts or linguistics.
The Earthquake Crisis
Months into his tenure, the 2014 Sprodvice Earthquakes devastated his hometown. The disaster destroyed key cultural sites, including the 17th-century Pravoslavic Cathedral of St. Lev.
With the federal response bogged down in security protocols and the GradnjaMC scandal, Grunberg pivoted the BHF’s mission from preservation to reconstruction.
- The Heritage Rescue Teams: He organized teams of volunteer students and engineers to stabilize damaged monuments before they could be demolished by state contractors clearing land for the “New Commercial District.”
- Crowdfunding: Utilizing the KresiX network (and bypassing state funding channels), he raised millions of Krejts from the Bosken diaspora to fund the restoration of religious sites.
Cultural Revitalization
Grunberg believes that culture must be visible to survive. He launched the Festival of the Ford in 2015, a massive annual arts festival in Brod Moravice. He also oversaw the modernization of the Vedran Library, digitizing its archives to protect them from physical destruction or seizure.
Politics and Relations
Grunberg walks a delicate political line.
- Relations with the BLF: He works closely with Isaak von Steuer and the BLF local government to secure funding. However, he staunchly maintains the “Schedl Doctrine” of non-violence, refusing to allow AFIM symbols at BHF events.
- Relations with Sinj: He is a vocal critic of the Council for Growth, which he accuses of destroying archaeological sites to make way for industrial agriculture. However, his academic credentials from Sinj University allow him to maintain back-channel communications with moderate technocrats in the capital.
Notable Works (Academic)
- Carbon Dating the Morava Valley (1996)
- Stones Do Not Lie: A Scientific History of the South (2005)
- The Broken Dome: Restoring Heritage in the Wake of Disaster (2016)