New Series Vol. 1 N° 2 by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences KOSMAS CZECHOSLOVAK AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL KOSMAS ISSN 1056-005X ©2018 by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) Kosmas: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal (Formerly Kosmas: Journal of Czechoslovak and Central European Studies, Vols. 1-7, 1982-1988, and Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Vols. 8-11, (1989-1993). Kosmas is a peer reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that focuses on Czech, Slovak and Central European Studies. It publishes scholarly articles, memoirs, research materials, and belles-lettres (including translations and original works), dealing with the region and its inhabitants, including their communities abroad. It is published twice a year by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU). Editor: Hugh L. Agnew (The George Washington University) Associate Editors: Mary Hrabík Šámal (Oakland University) Thomas A. Fudge (University of New England, Australia) The editors assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors. Manuscript submissions and correspondence concerning editorial matters should be sent via email to the editor, Hugh L. Agnew. The email address is [email protected]. Please ensure that you reference “Kosmas” in the subject line of your email. If postal correspondence proves necessary, the postal address of the editor is Hugh L. Agnew, History Department, The George Washington University, 801 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC, 20052 USA. Books for review, book reviews, and all correspondence relating to book reviews should be sent to the associate editor responsible for book reviews, Mary Hrabík Šámal, at the email address [email protected]. If postal correspondence proves necessary, send communications to her at 2130 Babcock, Troy, MI, 48084 USA. For information about ordering current and future issues of Kosmas, please consult the SVU website at: https://kosmas.svu2000.org. ii CONTENTS From the Editor By Hugh L. Agnew v ARTICLES Masaryk’s Philosopical and Political Globalism By Zdeněk V. David 1 The Role of Memory in the Centennial Commemorations of the Beginning of Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918, and the End of World War I on November 11, 1918 By James W. Peterson 21 Images of Shoah and Porajmos in Contemporary Slovak Literature By Jana Pátková (translated by Ema Katrovas) 38 Prague Spring on the Periphery: Eastern Slovak Steelworkers React to Reform and Invasion in 1968 By Marty Manor Mullins 53 The Cleveland Czech and Slovak Community’s Heartfelt Protest against the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 By Mary Hrabík Šámal 78 ESSAY Remembering World War II: The Czech Story By Ben Fox 98 RESEARCH MATERIALS Nobel Prize Winners of Czech or Slovak Ancestry By Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr. 104 BOOK REVIEWS Milan J. Kubic: From Prague to Jerusalem. An Uncommon Journey of a Journalist. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2017. ISBN: 978- 087580-764-5. 312 pp. By Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr. 130 Heda Margolius Kovály and Helena Třeštíková, Hitler, Stalin and I: An Oral History. Translated and edited by Ivan Margolius. Los Angeles: Doppel iii House Press, 2018. ISBN 9780998777009 (Hardcover), 9780997818475 (Paper), 9780997818499 (ebook), 160 pp. By Mary Hrabík Šámal 132 Martin Nekola, České Chicago (Czech Chicago), Knižnice dějin a současnosti, vol. 64 (Prague: NLN, 2017). ISBN: 978-80-7499-505-5, 100pp. By David Chroust 135 Daniel E. Miller, The Influence of Václav Klaus on Czech Public Opinion Regarding the European Union, Carl Beck Papers, University of Pittsburgh, No. 2503, May 2017. Available online at https://app.dimensions.ai/details/ publication/pub.1092456062?and_facet_journal=jour.1145192. By Carol Skalnik Leff 141 Contributors 143 Advice to Prospective Authors 145 iv From the Editor Hugh L. Agnew The year 2018 was marked in various parts of the world, including Central and Eastern Europe, by anniversary celebrations of various events, most significantly the 1918-2018 centenary of the ending (supposedly) of World War I. For the Czechs and Slovaks, the one hundredth anniversary was by no means the only “round” anniversary that was marked: looking back into the past there were 1618, 1648, 1848, 1938, 1948, and of course 1968. There were even remembrances of 1988, the first legally authorized demonstration in communist-run Czechoslovakia in many years and in some way a harbinger of the great changes of 1989. This volume reflects that interest in “round anniversaries” and the related issues of remembrance and commemoration that anniversary celebrations bring with them. We open this issue, New Series, Volume 1, number 2, with an article by frequent Kosmas contributor Zdeněk David, in which he explores Masaryk’s ideas on “globalization” during the wartime and postwar years, revolving around the major 1918 pivot. James W. Peterson considers the twofold remembrances of 1918 anniveraries, the declaration of Czechoslovak independence on October 28, 1918, and the coming into effect of the armistice on the Western Front on November 11, 1918 of the same year. He explores the ways in which these two anniversaries were evoked and remembered in the arts, especially music and poetry, in the years succeeding 1918, ending with some consideration of their contemporary commemoration. We move to a different set of remembrances with the article by Jana Pátková, exploring the themes of the Holocaust (Shoah in Hebrew, Porajmos in Romani) in Slovak literature. She shows the ways in which these themes have emerged out of relative silence in postwar Slovak literature to a new appreciation in works appearing since the change of regime and Slovak independence. World War II remembrance among the Czechs, including the Holocaust, but also involving related matters such as the Heydrichiáda or the grim history of the Petschek Palace, provides the subject of an essay by Ben Fox. Finally, the 1968 anniversary gives the context for the article by Marty Manor Mullins on the reactions of workers in East Slovkia’s Košice to the Warsaw Pact invasion that ended the experiment in “Socialism with a human face.” Using previously untapped archival material and including some never-before published photos, Mullins provides a fascinating look at the reform movement seen from the periphery. The same theme, 1968, from the perspective of the Czech and Slovak émigré community (along with other Americans of Czech and Slovak descent) is the subject of Mary Hrabík Šámal’s article on the actions of Cleveland’s Czech and Slovak communities in response to the Soviet-led invasion of their homeland. In it she draws on the private papers of Martin Hrabík, portions of whose memoirs were published in the previous volume of Kosmas. In addition to the articles and essay, Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr., continues his compilation of genealogical research reference materials, this time with an exploration of the Nobel Prize winners (and some who did not win) who were of Czech or Slovak origin or had other ties to the Czech and Slovak territories. This v issue also brings reviews of four recent books, two of which also directly deal with the issues of memory and remembrance. One of these is the memoir of Milan J. Kubic, reviewed by Miloslav Rechcigl, and one another account of her life experiences by Heda Margolius Kovály, supplementing her earlier Under a Cruel Star, reviewed by Mary Hrabík Šámal. Martin Nekola’s concise introduction to Czech Chicago is reviewed by David Chroust, and finally Daniel Miller’s exploration of the influence of former president Václav Klaus on Czech attitudes to Europe is reviewed by Carol Skalnik Leff. Meanwhile, the first number of New Series, Volume 2, is being prepared, and it will maintain the “round anniversary” theme, with its contents devoted to papers from a conference sponsored by the Wilsonian Club of Washington, DC and the Washington, DC branch of the SVU last spring marking the centennial of the ending of World War I. Please make a note to watch for what promises to be a rich and provocative collection of presentations! vi ARTICLES Masaryk’s Philosophical and Political Globalism Zdenĕk V. David Masaryk embraced the vision of a united mankind from early in his career as a philosopher. He based the idea of global unity on the philosophical concept of a single humanity, as also exemplified by the Czech national tradition, which derived from the Bohemian Reformation. He saw an encouraging quantum leap toward world unification in the revolution of the massive spread of democracy that resulted from World War I. Genesis of Cultural and Political Cosmopolitanism Masaryk’s cultural cosmopolitanism had its roots in the ancient classics. Jaroslav Opat traced the origins to Masaryk’s special interest in Plato (see also Chapter 5). His doctoral dissertation of 1875 was on “Das Werden der Seele bei Plato” (The Being of the Soul in Plato), soon followed by a study of “Plato as a Patriot.”1 Masaryk outlined his belief in the coming unification of mankind in 1877 in his article “O pokroku, vývoji a osvětě” [On Progress, Development, and Enlightenment].2 The concept of the general progress of humanity began its evolution thanks to the rise of Christianity, which taught that all people form a single whole without distinction of nationalities, and that all human beings are brethren. According to young Masaryk, the idea of cosmopolitanism, and with it, the idea of progress of the entirety of mankind, could only evolve gradually. Yet Christianity, being cosmopolitan, greatly contributed to the rapprochement