Tri režimy – tri interpretácie. Život Ľudovíta Štúra v československých a slovenských učebniciach dejepisu používaných v rozpätí rokov 1918 – 1989
Three Regimes – Three Interpretations. Life of Ľudovít Štúr in Czechoslovak and Slovak History Textbooks Used in 1918 – 1989

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the image of Ľudovít Štúr portrayed in history textbooks used in elementary and high schools in Slovakia during three different political regimes in the period of 1918 – 1989. Štúr was a prominent nineteenth century Slovak politician, journalist and a principle organizer of the Slovak national movement. He was also the initiator of the codification of the Slovak language and coordinator of voluntary Slovak campaigns against Hungarian rule in Upper Hungary during the 1848–49 revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy. He has been considered an iconic figure of Slovak history, and thus the interpretation of his life and work, as well as the deeds of his closest collaborators – in Slovak historiography commonly referred to as the third generation of the Slovak national movement – became one of the key narratives in Slovak history textbooks. Yet, since history textbooks are part of the official historiography and, as such, are intended to pass on the values of current political elites onto subsequent generations, the narratives in them have been influenced by different political regimes and by different ideological needs and constrains. The author presents the changing perspectives on the historical importance of Ľudovít Štúr in history textbooks published in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic (1918 – 1938), during the independent WWII Slovak Republic (1939 – 1945) and, finally, during the times when Czechoslovakia was under the rule of the Communist Party (1948 – 1989) in the contexts of the official ideologies, mainstream social and political worldviews and values promoted during the respective periods. The interpretations of the historical importance of Ľudovít Štúr and his generation, and their simplified and rather schematic presentation in history textbooks have been characterized by selectiveness stemming from attempts to implement different ideologies. Yet, in each of the above-mentioned periods, the general image of Ľudovít Štúr was that of a hero, such as in Thomas Carlyle’s nineteenth century concept of great men moving the historical development.

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