Tento text byl přednesen jako Opening Address na mezinárodní konferenci Fateful Eights in Czech History: Historical Anniversaries of 2008 and their Significance for the Czech Republic Today, pořádané velvyslanectvím České republiky v USA a Univerzitou George Washingtona 23. a 24. října 2008 ve Washingtonu, D.C. Autor v něm esejistickou formou načrtává základní bilanci českých dějin ve 20. století, zvažuje zisky a ztráty, triumfy a nezdary, vzestupy a pády Čechů, českého národa, české společnosti na cestě od nabytí samostatnosti v demokratickém státě přes její ztrátu a německou okupaci k obnově československé státnosti a od zničení demokracie v komunistickém režimu přes pokus o jeho reformu k vítězství demokratické revoluce. Pochopitelně nechybějí dějinné mezníky let 1918, 1938 a 1939, 1945 až 1948, 1968 a 1989 stejně jako zamyšlení nad dlouhodobějšími proměnami společenské mentality. and This was the Opening Address at ‘Fateful Eights in Czech History: Historical Anniversaries of 2008 and Their Significance for the Czech Republic Today’, an international conference organized by the Czech Embassy in Washington, held at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., on 23–24 October 2008. In this essay the author provides a basic overview of twentieth-century Czech history, weighing the gains and losses, the victories and defeats, the ups and downs of the Czechs, the Czech nation, Czech society, on the way from gaining independence in a democratic state to losing it, and the German occupation, to the renewal of Czechoslovak independence and the destruction of democracy under a Communist régime, to the failed attempt at the reform of that régime, and the victory of the democratic revolution – all marked by the historical milestones of the years 1918, 1938/39, 1945–48, 1968, and 1989 – as well as the author’s reflections on the long-term changes in the mentality of the country.
Spolueditor třísvazkového vydání kompletního souboru dokumentů Charty 77 (Charta 77: Dokumenty 1977–1989. Praha, Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR 2007) odpovídá na jednotlivé faktické námitky Petra Uhla. Odmítá jeho obvinění z nespolehlivosti poznámkového aparátu k dokumentům a konstatuje, že oponent nevznesl žádnou koncepční nebo metodickou výhradu, nýbrž vede při o jednotlivosti, v níž mu jako nevývratný argument slouží pouze vlastní paměť., In this contribution, Vilém Prečan, a co-editor of the three-volume Charta 77: Dokumenty 1977–1989 (Prague, 2007), the complete edition of Charter 77 documents, responds to individual factual objections made by Petr Uhl. Prečan rejects the accusation that the commentary and footnotes to the documents are unreliable, and objects that Uhl puts forward no conceptual or methodological argument in support of his claim, merely a dispute over the details, in which his memory alone serves as his incontrovertible argument., and Diskuse
This was the Opening Address at ''Fateful Eights in Czech History: Historical Anniversaries of 2008 and Their Signifi cance for the Czech Republic Today'', an international conference organized by the Czech Embassy in Washington, held at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., on 23-24 October 2008. In this essay the author provides a basic overview of twentieth-century Czech history, weighing the gains and losses, the victories and defeats, the ups and downs of the Czechs, the Czech nation, Czech society, on the way from gaining independence in a democratic state to loosing it, and the German occupation, to the renewal of Czechoslovak independence and the destruction of democracy under the Communist regime, to the failed attempt at the reform of that regime, and the victory of the democratic revolution - all marked by the historical milestones of the years 1918, 1938/39, 1945-48, 1968, and 1989 - as well as the author’s refl ections on the long-term changes in the mentality of the country.