Behind the Iron Curtain (4)
Behind the Iron Curtain (4)
Contributor(s): Alžběta Medková (Editor), Ondřej Němec (Photographer)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Social Sciences, Education, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Media studies, Communication studies, Sociology, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Government/Political systems, Security and defense, Studies in violence and power, History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II, History of the Holocaust, Migration Studies, Penal Policy
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; Communist regime;Fascism;Nazism;Holocaust;collaborators;media;radio;education;science;art;politics;migrations;Jewish population;international law;prison camps;
Summary/Abstract: This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The original version of the journal Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) is the part of CEEOL also.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-80-87912-53-9
- Page Count: 227
- Publication Year: 2016
- Language: English
Editorial
Editorial
(Editorial)
- Author(s):Zdeněk Hazdra
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Editorial
- Page Range:5-5
- No. of Pages:1
- Summary/Abstract:This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History), which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. It is almost two years since I last wrote an introduction to these articles. At that time my words had an obvious theme: 25 years had elapsed since the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. It was an opportunity to reflect on where we had got to from that fateful moment and what we actually know now about a recent past that continues to influence us greatly to this day.
The fate of Russian émigrés in Czechoslovakia
The fate of Russian émigrés in Czechoslovakia
(The fate of Russian émigrés in Czechoslovakia)
- Author(s):Anastasie Kopřivová
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Security and defense, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II, Migration Studies
- Page Range:10-19
- No. of Pages:10
- Keywords:interwar period; world war; Russian emigrants; Czechoslovakia; secret police;
- Summary/Abstract:Between the two world wars, a large community of Russian émigrés that had been forced to leave their homeland and flee the Bolshevik terror lived in Czechoslovakia. The young state offered them a background and support. However, that all changed after the end of WWII. In 1945 many Czechoslovak Russians met their tragic fate personified by members of the Soviet secret police who came to arrest them.
History that’s still alive - Propaganda about Soviet air raids in May 1945
History that’s still alive - Propaganda about Soviet air raids in May 1945
(History that’s still alive - Propaganda about Soviet air raids in May 1945)
- Author(s):Michal Plavec
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Communication studies, Military history, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:20-31
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; bombing; Bohemia; Moravia; WWII; red army; raids;
- Summary/Abstract:The bombing of Bohemian and Moravian cities and towns during World War II remains a hot topic. Most often recalled in this regard are US air raids on Prague on 14 February 1945 and on Pilsen on 25 April 1945, which usually spark emotional debates short on knowledge of the historical facts or archival documents. By contrast, Red Army air raids on the first day of peace, 9 May 1945, are neglected or misrepresented. The authors of various pieces have attributed the blame for these raids to the German Air Force. Unfortunately, Czech historiography has also adopted these propaganda-derived clichés.
We fight to rebuild - Airmen’s contribution to recognition of the government in exile
We fight to rebuild - Airmen’s contribution to recognition of the government in exile
(We fight to rebuild - Airmen’s contribution to recognition of the government in exile)
- Author(s):Ladislav Kudrna
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Military history, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
- Page Range:32-43
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; 1940; airmen; resistance movement; government; exile; Great Britain;
- Summary/Abstract:In the turbulent summer of 1940, the Czechoslovak airmen were among the greatest assets of the foreign resistance movement. A shocking defeat of France and the loneliness of Great Britain affirmed their privileged position. What was highlighted in the difficult negotiations with the British side was the strength of the air force, as well as the success of fighter pilots in the Battle of France. Recognition of the Czechoslovak provisional government could be described as a diplomatic miracle, thanks to a significant contribution by the aviation staff.
Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world - The broadcasts of the Czech section of Vatican Radio
Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world - The broadcasts of the Czech section of Vatican Radio
(Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world - The broadcasts of the Czech section of Vatican Radio)
- Author(s):Stanislava Vodičková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Media studies, Communication studies, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
- Page Range:44-57
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist rule; Rome; Vatican radio; Czech section; Catholic Church; broadcast changes; prosecution;
- Summary/Abstract:In October 1940 Cardinal Domenico Tardini noted an observation from discussions with foreign diplomats regarding the activities of Vatican Radio: Even when broadcasts are blocked in one country, they can be heard in others. It is enough when they reach one place for them to then reach everywhere.
A long way to the West - Helsinki Final Act and travelling of Czechoslovak citizens abroad
A long way to the West - Helsinki Final Act and travelling of Czechoslovak citizens abroad
(A long way to the West - Helsinki Final Act and travelling of Czechoslovak citizens abroad)
- Author(s):Jan Rychlík
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Migration Studies
- Page Range:58-71
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; West; traveling abroad; migrations; Helsinki agreement; communist regime;
- Summary/Abstract:After a brief period of open borders, barriers at border crossings were lowered again between 1968 and 1969. Travelling anywhere became difficult again, and journeys to the West almost impossible, at least for those whose “cadre profile” was not “up to the mark”. The change was to be brought by the Helsinki agreement, but despite the affixed signature of the Czechoslovak party and state officials, the practical consequences were negligible and those interested in travelling abroad went through an ordeal of official bullying, prohibitions and obstacles. This lasted until the fall of the Communist regime.
Underground and “under-the-ground” - The standpoints of the underground community in Czech society in the 1970s and 1980s and the specific values of the underground culture.
Underground and “under-the-ground” - The standpoints of the underground community in Czech society in the 1970s and 1980s and the specific values of the underground culture.
(Underground and “under-the-ground” - The standpoints of the underground community in Czech society in the 1970s and 1980s and the specific values of the underground culture.)
- Author(s):Martin Machovec
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Education, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Culture and social structure , Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
- Page Range:72-81
- No. of Pages:10
- Keywords:Underground; "under-the-ground"; community; Czechoslovakia; 70s; 80s; underground culture; artists; poets; musicians; philosophers; publishers; politics;
- Summary/Abstract:The terms “underground” and “under-the-ground” have not been clearly defined in Czech culture so far. Traditionally, “underground” comprises the community which emerged in the early 1970s around the rock band The Plastic People of the Universe. This community, which later became part of the Czech dissent and to a great extent merged with the community around Charter 77, was composed of poets, musicians, artists as well as philosophers, essayists and samizdat publishers of various focus and political orientation.
Happenings against totalitarianism - The Society for a Merrier Present in 1989
Happenings against totalitarianism - The Society for a Merrier Present in 1989
(Happenings against totalitarianism - The Society for a Merrier Present in 1989)
- Author(s):Petr Blažek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Government/Political systems, Culture and social structure , Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), History of Communism
- Page Range:82-93
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist regime; happening; totalitarianism; "Merrier Present"; demonstrations;
- Summary/Abstract:The American historian Padraic Kenney dubbed events in Central Europe in 1989 a “carnival of revolution”. In his absorbing book he explores the activities of the new opposition groupings that gradually took shape in the second half of the 1980s. The ideological battles of the previous generations were either alien or not a matter of concern to their founders, who for the most part were members of the young generation. They had no illusions about the chances of reforming the political regime into which they had been born. They were focused on public events, organising various demonstrations, hunger strikes, petitions and happenings. Some of these became legendary. Among them were the street events of the Society for a Merrier Present (Společnost za veselejší současnost), which emerged several months before the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
I undertake voluntarily… - Residents, agents, informers and others. The State Security’s secret collaborators, 1945–1989
I undertake voluntarily… - Residents, agents, informers and others. The State Security’s secret collaborators, 1945–1989
(I undertake voluntarily… - Residents, agents, informers and others. The State Security’s secret collaborators, 1945–1989)
- Author(s):Libor Bílek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Government/Political systems, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:94-111
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist regime; state security; collaborators; agents; informers; police;
- Summary/Abstract:All of the world’s intelligence or security services have no doubt used and continue to use secret collaborators. The reason is simple: Frequently it is the only way to acquire necessary information from particular suspicious milieus and closed groups of people believed to be engaged in unlawful activities. The State Security (Státní bezpečnost, StB) – Communist Czechoslovakia’s secret political police – always regarded its network of covert collaborators (which on the Soviet model it dubbed an “agency”) as a very important tool in its work.
15 March 1939 and the occupation of Prague Castle
15 March 1939 and the occupation of Prague Castle
(15 March 1939 and the occupation of Prague Castle)
- Author(s):Pavel Zeman
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Architecture, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:114-127
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Prague; Prague Castle; occupation; documents; Adolf Hitler; 1939;
- Summary/Abstract:The occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939 and Adolf Hitler’s stay in Prague on 15 and 16 March 1939 have been described in both specialist and memoir literature. Yet new archival materials relating to these events are still emerging. These include the report on the occupation of Prague Castle from May 1939 by JUDr. Karel Strnad, an official of the President’s Office, and two German documents: on President Emil Hácha’s return from Berlin on 15 March 1939 and on Adolf Hitler’s stay at Prague Castle.
Disappeared Science - With historians Michal V. Šimůnek and Antonín Kostlán on their book Disappeared Science, which documents the fate of scholars and intellectuals of Jewish origin in the years 1939-1945
Disappeared Science - With historians Michal V. Šimůnek and Antonín Kostlán on their book Disappeared Science, which documents the fate of scholars and intellectuals of Jewish origin in the years 1939-1945
(Disappeared Science - With historians Michal V. Šimůnek and Antonín Kostlán on their book Disappeared Science, which documents the fate of scholars and intellectuals of Jewish origin in the years 1939-1945)
- Author(s):Pavel Zeman
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Education, Jewish studies, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Fascism, Nazism and WW II, History of the Holocaust
- Page Range:130-137
- No. of Pages:8
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Jewish population; nazi persecution; Bohemia; Moravia; Science; scientific institutions; archives;
- Summary/Abstract:Despite the advances in research after the year 1989, there are still blank spaces on the map documenting the country’s victims of Nazi persecution and racially motivated persecution of the Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia. Together with a number of scientific institutions, museums and archives, initiatives and civic associations, the Cabinet of the History of Sciences of the Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic has also been involved in documentation of the victims of Nazi persecution and persecution on racial grounds for many years. The Cabinet’s collective research project Scientists and Intellectuals of the Czech Lands as Victims of Nazi Persecution 1939–1945 was launched in 2007 and focused on representative documentation of the consequences of the Nazi occupation in the personnel composition of the scientific community in the Czech lands in the latter half of the 1930s and the first half of the 1940s.
Two journeys to the gallows - Life stories of members of the Prague Gestapo Wilhelm Wollner and Friedrich Dennert
Two journeys to the gallows - Life stories of members of the Prague Gestapo Wilhelm Wollner and Friedrich Dennert
(Two journeys to the gallows - Life stories of members of the Prague Gestapo Wilhelm Wollner and Friedrich Dennert)
- Author(s):Jiří Plachý
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Criminal Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:140-153
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Declaration of St James’s Palace; war criminals; prosecution; Wilhelm Wollner; Friedrich Dennert;
- Summary/Abstract:In January 1942, the representatives of nine occupied European countries, including Czechoslovakia, met in London to formulate their attitude to post-war punishment of Nazi war criminals and collaborators. Together they adopted the Declaration of St James’s Palace, which later became the basis of the principles according to which war criminals were prosecuted and which were also adopted by the Allied Powers and many other countries.
Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP and Action T4
Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP and Action T4
(Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP and Action T4)
- Author(s):Pavel Zeman
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Studies in violence and power, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:154-165
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Chancellery of the Führer; Adolf Hitler; NSDAP; Action T4; euthanasia programme; mass murder;
- Summary/Abstract:Adolf Hitler wrote that ‘it is impossible to let the incurably ill continue infecting the healthy’ in Mein Kampf as early as in 1924. Three years later, he mentioned the eugenic killing of newborns in his speech at the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) rally in Nuremberg: If Germany gains one million children and gets rid of the 700,000 to 800,000 weakest individuals every year, it should emerge stronger ultimately. The greatest hazard for us is not enabling the natural selection process, thus losing the possibility of gaining capable individuals.
“Tidy up here – I’ll lock up later” - The dismantling of Surveillance Directorate monitoring stations 1989–1990
“Tidy up here – I’ll lock up later” - The dismantling of Surveillance Directorate monitoring stations 1989–1990
(“Tidy up here – I’ll lock up later” - The dismantling of Surveillance Directorate monitoring stations 1989–1990)
- Author(s):Prokop Tomek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Security and defense, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
- Page Range:168-179
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; state security; societal control; collaborators; physical surveillance; Surveillance Directorate; dismantling;
- Summary/Abstract:Over many years the State Security (Státní bezpečnost, StB) built up a system of societal control entirely according to its own wishes and requirements. Its covert network of secret collaborators is unsurprisingly best known. However, a system of actual physical surveillance was also in place. Partial documentation on some of the posts used for that purpose has been preserved in the archival collection of the StB’s Surveillance Directorate. It chiefly contains organisational, technical and economic information. But linking it to particular cases of operative work is complicated.
The first transports of European Jews in the history of the holocaust
The first transports of European Jews in the history of the holocaust
(The first transports of European Jews in the history of the holocaust)
- Author(s):Jan Dvořák, Jan Horník, Adam Hradilek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies in violence and power, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Fascism, Nazism and WW II, History of the Holocaust
- Page Range:182-201
- No. of Pages:6
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Europe; Jews; Holocaust; Ostrava; Nisko Plan; nazi prison camps; soviet prison camps; NKVD documents; Erich Egger; Karel Egger; deportation;
- Summary/Abstract:The 18th of October 2014 marked the 75th anniversary of the departure of the very first transport of European Jews in the history of the holocaust – one that left Ostrava for Nisko upon San in the eastern part of the General Government where the Nazis planned to set up an extensive “reservation” for Jews displaced from the conquered territories and the whole of Germany. As part of the Nisko Plan , a total of seven transports with more than five thousand Jews departed from Ostrava, Katowice and Vienna in the latter half of October 1939. Their journey materialised even though, by the time of departure of the first transport, the top Nazi officials had dismissed the entire plan of establishing a Jewish reservation between the Rivers Vistula and Bug. The ensuing destinies of thousands of Jewish deportees varied; however, most of them were to die or suffer in Nazi as well as in Soviet prisons and camps.
The story of a dilatory informer - Robert Sylten – State Security Service (StB) collaborator in Israel
The story of a dilatory informer - Robert Sylten – State Security Service (StB) collaborator in Israel
(The story of a dilatory informer - Robert Sylten – State Security Service (StB) collaborator in Israel)
- Author(s):Jan Dvořák
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Recent History (1900 till today), Government/Political systems, Security and defense, History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:202-213
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist regime; dilatory informer; Robert Sylten; gulag; State Security Service; StB; collaborator; Israel;
- Summary/Abstract:Robert Sylten was never a publicly known or important person. His actions did not make a significant mark on history either. Yet his story certainly cannot be described as commonplace – it dramatically reflected the turbulent history of the 20th century. When watching the fateful twists of Sylten’s life, we can also clearly see some practices of totalitarian regimes.
Escape by tunnel from the Nikolaj camp
Escape by tunnel from the Nikolaj camp
(Escape by tunnel from the Nikolaj camp)
- Author(s):Jan Horník
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Government/Political systems, Studies in violence and power, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Penal Policy
- Page Range:214-227
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist regime; Krušne mountains; Nikolaj camp; tunnel; escape; uranium ore; USSR;
- Summary/Abstract:It is Sunday afternoon, 6 November 1955. A raw autumn day. Anton Tomík’s hand has just touched the back of a wooden fence separating the guards’ barracks and the prisoners’ camp. The boarded fence runs roughly in the middle of the Nikolaj camp. Nikolaj lies one kilometre north of the town of Jáchymov in the Krušné Mountains, in the area of which prisoners extract uranium ore to be exported to the USSR.
