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Behind the Iron Curtain: English-Language Review

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Behind the Iron Curtain: English-Language Review Review of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Czech Republic Behind the Iron Curtain We Were Unhappy Political Executions Far-Reaching Battle and Have Begun in Communist Over the Secret Not to Know It Czechoslovakia Policemen’s Files Interview with Jiří Gruša on Intentional misuse Post-Velvet Revolution the lack of virtuousness and of the implementation scandal that shook the the threshold of memory of justice government Cover.indd 1 3/12/09 4:21:27 PM Internet Portal of 2.2.2009 19:29:07 2.2.2009 Survivor Accounts PN_promo_OB_200x150.indd 1 PN_promo_OB_200x150.indd WWW W.W MEM MOMORYOFO NAN TIT ONO .EEU www.memoryofnation.eu is a digital archive of survivor and witness accounts collected on the basis of oral history methodology. The portal collects audio recordings, video clips, photos, texts, archival documents and professional comm allows easy comparison of accounts, and enables the passing on of 20th-century history through the words of those who experiencentaries, fi rsthand. ed it The goal of the project is to facilitate exploration of the accounts of those who survived 20 currently exists in 9 language versions. The witness’s story is always in his or her own native language,th century totalitarianwith a short regimes. annotation The in Web English, site for universal accessibility. The long-term objective is to make the portal into a digital archive featuring testimonies compiled from oral history projects in all European countries. This project is the result of cooperation between the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes ( association (www.postbellum.cz) and Czech Radio (Český Rozhlas, www.ustrcr.cz), the Post Bellum civic www.rozhlas.cz). www.memoryofnation.eu 2 obalka.indd 1 3/12/09 4:21:50 PM Dear Readers, One of the most important tasks of the Institute for the Study of Totali- tarian Regimes is the presentation of our research fi ndings on an inter- national level. With the passing in the Czech Republic of Act No. 181/2007 Coll. and the creation of the Institute and Security Services Archive, our country fi nds itself in a unique situ- ation providing for the comparative- ly rapid attainment of a similar level of social discourse as in other post- Communist countries which estab- lished parallel institutions in recent years. Research findings in unusually wide open archival collections of the former Communist security services and new digitization technology are making it possible to convey up-to- date knowledge of the mechanisms of Nazi and Soviet totalitarian power from former Czechoslovakia to the wide international research commu- nity in real time. The Institute thus fulfi lls, even in the context of supra- national fora, the legal purpose for which it was established. Reconciling with the totalitarian past is a complex and internally structured process, which over one generation aft er the fall of the Com- munist totalitarian regime in Cen- tral and Eastern Europe is reaching a new phase. Political, institutional and personnel changes in our region no longer fundamentally threaten standards in research, museum and Europe. Not only Nazism, but also the routing to Euroatlantic struc- grant areas, to be applied towards Communism, with which the states tures; nevertheless, a thorough the overcoming of Europe’s 20th cen- and citizens of the former Iron Cur- knowledge of totalitarian mecha- tury totalitarian residue. We expect tain to the East have additional trag- nisms and defenses against them is that the integration of opinions in this ic experiences, deserve detailed and not yet destined exclusively for his- area, commencing with a detailed systematic attention. torians and politologists. The expe- discussion at the workshop organized In order to protect and further de- rience of the post-Communist part in cooperation with the Offi ce of the velop an open, democratic society, the of Europe must be taken into account Government of the Czech Republic in realities of the closed past have to be as an inseparable part of a common November 2008 and culminating in revealed and impartially evaluated. European historical memory. the hearing in the European Parlia- This is the Institute and Archive’s For this reason the Institute, with- ment in the middle of March 2009, specifi c legal mandate, yet it will be in the scope of the Czech Republic’s will not only buttress the sometimes accomplished much more eff ectively presidency of the Council of the Eu- even Sisyphean work of our partner in partnership than alone. ropean Union, has initiated the pro- institutions, but will also unite the cess of establishing a common Euro- occasionally still distinct approach- Sincerely, pean platform intended to ensure es of Western and Central-Eastern Pavel Žáček, Institute Director Behind the Iron Curtain 3 3 editorial.indd Sec1:3 3/12/09 4:22:24 PM TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial .....................................................................................3 The NKVD/KGB – The Service That Came Table of Contents .....................................................................4 In For the Cold War ...............................................................43 International conference series expands channels of research and HISTORY cooperation Milestones in Recent Czech History (1938-1989) .............5 Coming to Terms With the 20th Century The Far-Reaching Battle Over the Secret Totalitarian Past ......................................................................8 Policemen’s Files ....................................................................45 Post-Velvet Revolution scandal that shook the government INTRODUCTION Inception and International Cooperation PRESENTATION of the Institute and Archive ................................................11 Exhibition: Czech Society Between Highlights of Institute Activities .......................................13 Munich and the War ...............................................................47 Formation and Priorities Exhibition: On the Cold War Front – of the Security Services Archive ....................................... 16 Czechoslovakia 1948-1956 ......................................................49 Educational DVD: 1968: Shattered Hopes ..........................50 INTERVIEW Book: Victims of the Occupation ......................................... 51 We Were Unhappy and Have Begun Not to Know It .....18 Exhibition and Book: Orwell in Photographs, Interview with Jiří Gruša on the lack of virtuousness Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police .....................52 and the threshold of memory International Conference: Resistance and Opposition Against the Communist ARTICLES AND STUDIES Regime in Czechoslovakia and Central Europe ...................54 Getting to Grips With Munich's Painful Legacy .............23 The Agreement's long-term eff ects are still a live issue and subject of debate Wartime Wounds Cast Long Shadow over Czech Society ................................................................25 Czechs were among Nazi Germany’s fi rst foreign victims Cautious Preparations for the Černínský Palace Revolution ...............................................................................27 February 1948 and persecution of employees of the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs Behind the Iron Curtain Review of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Communist Regime Investigative Czech Republic Aids Help Historians Uncover Secrets .............................30 Preparation of the Action 48 card index for researchers’ use Editors: Chris Johnstone, Alexis Gibson Graphic design and layout: Petr Puch, Kakalík Political Executions in Communist Czechoslovakia .....33 Language editing: Alexis Gibson, Cóilín O’Connor, Intentional misuse of the implementation of justice Gillian Purves Behind the Iron Curtain uses images from the ČTK Czech News A Cheap and Dispensable Tool for Uranium Extraction ..............................................................36 Agency and from the following archives: Security Services “Class enemies” used as forced labor in mines during Archive, National Archives of the Czech Republic, Archive of the the Communist regime Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, and the archives of Přemysl Fialka, Jiří Reichl, Peter Burgstaller, Jiří Gruša, Ladislav Kudrna. Hope, Warnings and Lessons Cover photos of Czechoslovak prisoners who were eventually From Across the Border .......................................................38 executed on political grounds, aft er their arrest by the State International impact of the Prague Spring and its crushing Security Service: Karel Bacílek, student - 29 years old (executed Student’s Self-Sacrifi ce Scrutinized in May 1949); Květoslav Prokeš, soldier - 52 years old (executed on Anniversary ......................................................................41 in November 1949). Czech society reviews Jan Palach’s act aft er 40 years Published in March 2009 ISBN 978-80-87211-21-2 4 Behind the Iron Curtain 4 obsah.indd Sec2:4 3/12/09 4:22:45 PM Milestones in Recent Czech History (1938–1989) Czechoslovakia aft er the Munich Agreement (October 1, 1938-March 15, 1939). 1938 a new path, limiting parliamentary of medical student Jan Opletal on No- September 29. Adolf Hitler, Neville democracy and trying to ingratiate vember 15, four days aft er he died from Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and itself with Nazi Germany. wounds received at an anti– Nazi pro- Édouard Daladier sign the Munich test on the October 28 anniversary of Agreement, ceding the Sudeten bor- 1939 Czechoslovak independence.
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