The official Burgundian historiographer Georges Chastellain (perhaps 1415-1475) left an extensive work of various genres behind. We also find in the Chronicle noteworthy Bohemicalia and Luxemburg passages, concerning particularly the origin of Hussitism. Chastellain saw the roots of this revolution in the lascivious alliance of Prague girls and the monks of one monastery there. To be able to sleep with their lovers, the girls cut their hair and wore monk´s cowls. It was the beginning of absolute chaos and reversal of the established hierarchies in Bohemia. We do not know the direct source of the author´s inspiration, but ideologically the story is close to a number of works of anti-Hussite propaganda, emphasising the destructive role of women in the revolution. It is also not an accident that Chastellain included the chapter on the Prague girls just before the narrative on Joan of Arc, for whom as an author from Burgundy he did not sympathize. Also she changed into men´s clothing and her behaviour led to wars and chaos according to the author. The parallel was to be obvious. At the time when he wrote the passage on Hussitism, Georges Chastellain also considered the mission of historians and their place in the period society. He ascribed a place to them almost on the same level as aristocrats. It was a parallel: like aristocrats use the sword, the tongue must serve men of the quill for the elimination of the injustice of this world. and Martin Nejedlý.
a1_Jednou z klíčových postav povídky Josefa Škvoreckého Malá pražská matahára (1955) je americký hudebník Robert Bulwer. Jeho statutu politického azylanta ,,vyhladovělí pražští fandové'' dovedně využijí k propašování jazzové revue na pražská pódia v době, kdy je tento žánr stále ještě považován za podezřelý. Fiktivní postava Bulwera má reálný předobraz v americkém jazzovém hráči na kontrabas Herbertu Wardovi (1921-1994), který spolu s manželkou, tanečnicí a choreografkou Jacqueline Wardovou (1919-2014) a dvěma syny požádal v roce 1954 o politický azyl v socialistickém Československu a poté do roku 1964 žil v Praze. Autor na základě odtajněných spisů amerického Federálního úřadu pro vyšetřování (FBI), ale i českých a jiných archivních pramenů a dobového tisku vykresluje životní příběh manželů Wardových, zejména jejich působení v Evropě, okolnosti získání azylu a život v Československu. Tento příběh zasazuje do kontextu pronásledování takzvané neamerické činnosti (mccarthismu) ve Spojených státech po vypuknutí studené války, kterým byla vedle jiných levicových umělců postižena také řada jazzových hudebníků a v němž shledává motivy k odchodu Wardových z Ameriky do Dánska v roce 1950. Značnou pozornost věnuje otázce členství Wardových v Komunistické straně USA a spřízněných levicových organizacích a důvodům zájmu FBI o jejich činnost., a2_V líčení jejich autora života v Praze poutá umělecké působení obou manželů, zejména Wardova revuální pásma přibližující pražskému publiku historii jazzu, a později v šedesátých letech jejich narůstající deziluze z pobytu v Československu, která je přivedla k návratu do USA. Stať je mimo jiné příspěvkem do nedávno započaté diskuse o anglicky mluvící levicové komunitě v Československu po začátku studené války a zároveň ilustruje práci FBI v době amerického mccarthismu., a1_One of the key characters of Josef Škvorecký´s short story Prague´s Little Mara Hara (1955) is an American musician named Robert Bulwer. ''Music-hungry fans of Prague'' skillfully use his political refugee´s status to smuggle a jazz revue onto stages of Prague at the time the music style is still viewed as something suspicious. The fictitious character of Bulwer was based on a realistic archetype, American double-bass jazz player Herbert Ward (1921-1994), who together with his wife, dancer and choreographer Jacqueline Ward (1919-2014) and two sons asked for political asylum in socialist Czechoslovakia in 1954 and then lived in Prague until 1964. Using declassified files of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but also information from Czech and other archival sources and period press, the author depicts the life story of the Wards, in particular their presence in Europe, circumstances under which the asylum was granted, and their life in Czechoslovakia. He sets the story into the context of persecution of so-called un-American activities (McCarthyism) in the United States after the outbreak of the Cold War; in addition to other left-wing artists, the campaign also affected many jazz musicians, and Petr Vidomus sees motives for the 1950 departure of the Wards from the USA to Denmark in it. He pays a lot of attention to the issue of the Wards´ membership in the Communist Party of the USA and related left-wing organizations and reasons of the FBI´s interest in their activities. Insofar as their life in Prague is concerned, the author is interested primarily in their artistic activities, in particular Herbert Ward´s revues describing the history of jazz to Prague´s audience, and later, in the 1960s, their disillusionment with the life in Czechoslovakia, which made them return to the United States., a2_The article is, inter alia, a contribution to a recently started discussion about the English-speaking left-wing community in Czechoslovakia after the beginning of the Cold War, and also illustrates the work of the FBI during the era of McCarthyism in the United States., Petr Vidomus., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The authors consider the changes in the conception, organization, ways of spending, and forms of leisure in the Czech Lands from the establishment of the Communist monopoly on power in early 1948 to the second half of the 1950s. (After this point leisure time here began strikingly to change under the infl uence of consumerist trends.) They consider the topic in the context of the dominant ideology and changes in economic, social, and arts policies. The authors take into account gender differences, contrasts between town and country, and special features of social groups. They pay particular attention to leisure amongst young people and children. The authors do not, however, see the Communist takeover of February 1948 as a watershed in the sphere of leisure. Instead, they demonstrate both the continuity and differences between the period of limited democracy, from May 1945 to February 1948, and the years that followed. In some cases, they highlight features that were identical in Nazi German and Communist approaches to leisure activities (the rejection of jazz, ''trash'' (brak) in the arts, and Western infl uences in general). The authors discuss how the Communist regime intervened intensively in the way people chose to spend their free time, in its endeavour to shape a new type of man and woman in the new social conditions. At the same time, particularly in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the State so emphasized the importance of the work of building socialism, that leisure was seen as a ''necessary evil'', since it used up valuable physical and mental energy that would have been better spent on increasing productivity. For the same aims, but also with regard to the idea of somewhatdemocratising the arts, the regime gave preference to activities such as political and vocational self-education as well as the study of selected arts and cultural values. In keeping with the subordination of the individual to the interests of society, collective forms of recreation and the leisure (holidays spent with groups of co-workers, mass group visits to plays, fi lms, concerts, museums, galleries, and, later, Pioneer camps) were given priority. Traditional club activity and individual leisure were seen as ''bourgeois survivals''. Some young people’s non-conformist leisure activities met with suspicion from the authorities or with outright repression. Amongst the models of leisure that the regime held worthy of emulation were the Socialist youth construction projects (stavby mládeže), ''volunteer'' work, and additional instruction or training. The new organizations, such as the Revolutionary Trades Union Movement (Revoluční odborové hnutí - ROH), the Czechoslovak Union of Youth (Československý svaz mládeže - ČSM), and the Union for Co-operation with the Army (Svaz pro spolupráci s armádou - Svazarm), which took the place of the earlier clubs and associations, comported with the new ideology and provided the required forms of leisure. The authorities endeavoured also to support considerably developed and differentiated hobbies, such as making art, playing board games, and collecting. Special facilities were established to run these activities, including the enterprise-based clubs of the ROH, houses of culture (kulturní domy), and people’s educational societies (osvětové besedy). Forms of universally accessible activity, like chess and phillumeny (collecting matchbox labels), were supported, whereas fi nancially more demanding hobbies or those linked to private gain, such as philately or numismatics, were marginalized. A slight retreat from the ideologised conception of leisure came with the so-called ''new course'' of 1953. But more striking changes were made in the second half of the 1950s. These years, which saw shorter working weeks, a higher standard of living than before, and the emergence of consumerist trends, are described by the authors as a period of the planned expansion of leisure and its gradual individualisation.
Social policy in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, from mid-March 1939 to early May 1945, is a key topic in contemporary research on the history of this brief period. The article is concerned with the possible approaches to research with regard to the latest trends in research on National Socialism. It begins with an outline of the historiography of social policy in the Protectorate, which is marked chiefl y by a predominant uniformity of argumentation, a lack of systematic approach to interpretation, and Czech and Czechoslovak historians’ limiting themselves to the ethnically Czech population. Research conducted so far has completely failed to put social policy into the context of social history. The author thus fi rst provides an outline of the social framework, which represents the concept of a Volksgemeinschaft (national/ethnic/racial community), in which ideas about the purpose and function of social policy were formed and implemented. In the next part, she focuses on the defi nition of the term ''social policy'' as understood by Nazi theorists after 1933. In the last part of the article, she seeks to defi ne the new social relations in the CzechGerman environment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and suggests possibilities of its analysis in the area of the implementation of social policy. She believes that it will be fruitful to study the implementation of the relevant criteria in the Reich and the Protectorate at the level of discussions among experts, and to research social policy in practice. The author sees the most important aspects of the implementation of social policy as residing in the various motivations of the regime when implementing social policy in relation to different parts of the population, ranging from social exclusion to forms of social protectionism.
a1_Původní verze tohoto článku vyšla pod názvem ''Vergangenheitsbewältigung’ auf Tschechisch: Der Holocaust im tschechischen Samizdat'' ve sborníku pod redakcí Petera Hallamy a Stephana Stacha Gegengeschichte: Zweiter Weltkrieg und Holocaust im ostmitteleuropäischen Dissens (Leipzig, Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2015, s. 237-260). Autor analyzuje reflexi holokaustu v literatuře českého disentu vydávané samizdatem v sedmdesátých a osmdesátých letech minulého století. Zaměřuje se především na historické práce, sleduje ale i publicistické příspěvky, memoárová a beletristická díla stejně jako překladové publikace. Konkrétně se článek soustředí na dva aspekty, které dobře ukazují, jak obtížné bylo - a stále ještě je - plně integrovat holokaust do českých národních dějin. Zaprvé, holokaust byl v disentu často pojímán jako důkaz nehumánní povahy totalitních režimů. Avšak tento výklad vedl k tomu, že pronásledování Židů (nacistickým režimem) se ocitalo na stejné úrovni jako perzekuce Čechů (nacistickým, ale i komunistickým režimem). Zadruhé, pokud docházelo k přehodnocování nebo zpochybňování české národní metanarace, témata jako domácí antisemitismus nebo holokaust bývala v těchto případech ignorována., a2_Disidenti připouštěli, že otázka viny (Schuldfrage) se sice týká i Československa, avšak vztahovali ji na vyhnání německé menšiny po druhé světové válce. Naopak téma holokaustu mezi disidenty žádnou podobnou debatu nevyvolalo. Chování Čechů během druhé světové války, postoj k Židům a domácí antisemitismus tak nebyly vůbec zpochybňovány. Z tohoto důvodu byl podle autora holokaust v pracích věnovaných českým dějinám dvacátého století spíše přehlížen, nebo v lepším případě jen sporadicky zmiňován, ať již tyto texty vycházely oficiálně, nebo samizdatem., This is a Czech translation of ''Vergangenheitsbewältigung'' auf Tschechisch: Der Holocaust im tschechischen Samizdat" which is published in Peter Hallama and Stephan Stach (eds.), Gegengeschichte: Zweiter Weltkrieg und Holocaust im ostmitteleuropäichen Dissens (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2015, pp. 237-60). The author analyses representations of the Holocaust in Czech dissent literature published as samizdat in the 1970s and 1980s. He concentrates on historical writings, but also considers journalistic contributions, memoirs, and works of belles-lettres, as well as translations of publications. In particular, the article considers two aspects that highlight the difficulties one faced and continues to face when trying to fully integrate the Holocaust into Czech national history. First, the Holocaust was often understood by the dissidents as evidence of the inhuman nature of totalitarian regimes. This interpretations, however, led to placing the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime on the same level as the persecution of the Czechs by the Nazi and Communist regimes. Second, if there was a reassessment or questioning to the Czech national master narrative, then topics such as home-grown antisemitism or the Holocaust were not addressed. The dissidents admitted that Czechoslovakia also had its question of guilt, but they related it to the expulsion of the German minority after the Second World War. The Holocaust, by contrats, did not generate any similar debate among the dissidents. The behaviour of Czechs during the Second World War, the attitude towards Jews, and domestic antisemitism were thus not questioned at all. The Holocaust has, according to the author, therefore tended to be overlooked or, at best, mentioned only incidentally in writing about twentieth-century Czech history - whether the authors published their texts in state-owned publishing houses or in samizdat., Peter Hallama ; Z němčiny přeložil Petr Dvořáček., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
In the year 2003 ten years passed since the Germanoslavica journal was re-established. In this connection the history of activity duration and its aims have been evaluated. The article conveys a complex view of the journal structure as it looked like under the guidance of Prof. A. Měšťan.
The 700th birth anniversary of King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV has been designated as one of UNESCO´s important world anniversaries for 2016-2017. The Czech Academy of Sciences recreates the period of Charles IV at the exhibiton entitled Seven Towers. Charles IV through the eyes of academics (1316-2016) at the Science and Art Gallery. The visitors have an oppportunity to see the unique gold ducats with a picture of Charles IV. For this first time the most valuable archaeological discoveries of glass goblets are exhibited. Everyday items used by residents of the medieval city are also on display. The exhibition also shows a rare treasure of coins, which was hidden in the Emmaus monastery about 1370, as well as copies of the Constitutive Act of the Charles University, Charles´s Code Maiestas Carolina or late-medieval transcript of Charles´ Golden Bull. Personality of Charles IV is documented by commemorative coins, medals and seals bearing his image. Part of the exhibition is also a faithful copy of the statue of Charles IV from the Old Town Bridge Tower, the last sculptural portrait of the monarch before his death. and Marina Hužvárová.
Recenzent označuje publikaci, která je věnována dějinám komunistického hnutí v západních Čechách v letech 1945 až 1948 s přesahem do konce čtyřicátých let, za průkopnickou. Vznikala totiž už před deseti lety, kdy by některé její závěry byly pro českou historiografii převratnější než dnes. Nejde o úzce zaměřenou regionální studii, autor se snaží na základě bohaté empirie regionální provenience odhalit obecnější faktory, které mohou být při pohledu z mocenského ústředí snadno přehlédnuty, případně se nejeví jako klíčové. Zkoumá poválečný přerod Komunistické strany Československa v masovou stranu, analyzuje vývoj jejího členstva a personální proměny regionální stranické hierarchie. Dospívá přitom ke zjištění, že pro její volební vítězství v roce 1946 byly podstatné vnitropolitické faktory, především pružně uplatňovaná taktika a umírněný program. Recenzent však pokládá za zjednodušující tezi o existenci dvojí poválečné KSČ - strany funkcionářů a strany členů, která si nepřála diktátorský režim a po uchopení moci se cítila podvedená., In the opinion of the reviewer, the work The Cheated Party: The birth of the mass Communist movement in the Plzeň region, its disciplining, centralization and bureaucratization (1945-1948) dedicated to the history of the Communist movement in West Bohemia from 1945 to 1948, with an overlap into the late 1940s, is groundbreaking. As a matter of fact, it originated a decade ago, when some of its conclusions would have been even more revolutionary for the Czech historiography than today. It is not just a regional study with a narrow focus: using rich empirical regional information, the author attempts to reveal more general factors which might be easily overlooked or not regarded as important from the power center. He examines the post-war transformation of the communist party into a mass organization, analyzes the development of its membership, and personal changes in the party hierarchy. He comes to a conclusion that its victory in the 1946 elections was primarily influenced by internal political factors, in particular a moderate programme and flexible tactics. However, the reviewer regards the proposition of the existence of two post-war Communist Parties of Czechoslovakia - one of party functionaries, the other of members who did not wish a dictatorship and felt cheated after the party had usurped power - as overly simplifying., [autor recenze] Matěj Bílý., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
V reakci na recenzi své biografie českého historika Václava Chaloupeckého (1882-1951) Václav Chaloupecký: Hledání československých dějin (Praha, Karolinum 2014), kterou v minulém čísle tohoto časopisu publikovala Antonie Doležalová (Hledání Václava Chaloupeckého. In: Soudobé dějiny, roč. 23, č. 1-2, 2016, s. 211-216), se autor zamýšlí nad problémem figurace historiografického textu budovaného na materiálu primárních pramenů a v souvislosti s tím rovněž nad vnitrooborovou i širší recepcí současné české historiografie a nad mezemi i proměnami popularizace výsledků historického výzkumu., In response to a review of his biography of the Czech historian Václav Chaloupecký (1882-1951), Václav Chaloupecký: Hledání československých dějin (Prague: Karolinum, 2014), published in the previous issue of this journal (Antonie Doležalová, ''Hledání Václava Chalupeckého'', Soudobé dějiny, vol. 23 (2016), nos. 1-2, pp. 211-16), the author discusses the problem of composing a historical text built on primary sources and, in connection with that, the reception, both in the field and amongst the general public, of contemporary Czech historiography. He also considers the limits of, and changes in, the popularization of the results of historical research., Milan Ducháček., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy