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