Vol. VII (2019) Vol. Vol. VII (2019) CZECH JOURNAL of CONTEMPORARY HISTORY Vít Smetana Ten Propositions about Munich 1938 On the Fateful Event of Czech and European History – without Legends and National Stereotypes Dalibor Vácha When We Walk Down Wenceslas Square… ISTORY H A Picture of the Return of Czech Legionnaires to Their Homeland in Their Recollections and Autobiographic Novels Jan Rychlík Jozef Tiso: My Enemy – Your Hero? Jakub Šlouf Cleansing of Industrial Plants from Collaborationists and “Anti-Social” Elements in 1945 A Political Machination, Retribution Excess or an Incubator of Revolutionary Morals? ONTEMPORARY C Marie Černá “You Have to Fight the Struggle Yourselves” The Political Role of the Soviet Army and Its Local Allies of in “Normalization” of Czechoslovakia (1968–1969) Tomáš Zahradníček Debates on Czechoslovakism and Czechoslovaks at the End of the Federation, 1989–1992 OURNAL Prague Chronicle J Oldřich Tůma Doyen of Czech Contemporary History, Karel Kaplan ZECH C Jana Wohlmuth Markupová Reflections on the Conference “A Hundred Student (R)Evolutions” Book Reviews (Helena Sadílková, Martin Čížek, Petr Chalupecký, Adéla Gjuričová, Lucie Rajlová) Czech Journal of Contemporary History Guidelines for Contributors 1. The articles published in the journal vary somewhat in length. Typically, they have approximately 30 pages1 they should not be shorter than 10 pages and longer than 50 pages. The reviews should be 4–10 pages long, although in exceptional cases longer reviews would be accepted as well. Annotations are normally 1–2 pages long. 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CZECH JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY Vol. VII (2019) THE INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY HISTORY EDITORIAL CIRCLE: Kateřina Čapková, Milan Drápala, Kathleen Geaney, Adéla Gjuričová, Daniela Kolenovská, Michal Kopeček, Vít Smetana, Oldřich Tůma EDITORIAL BOARD: Muriel Blaive, Prague/Vienna Christianne Brenner, Munich Chad Bryant, Chapel Hill (NC) Petr Bugge, Aarhus Mark Cornwall, Southampton Benjamin Frommer, Evanston (IL) Maciej Górny, Warsaw Magdalena Hadjiiski, Strasbourg Milan Hauner, Madison (WI) Vít Hloušek, Brno Adam Hudek, Bratislava Georgyi Kasianov, Kiev Tamás Kende, Budapest Pavel Kolář, Florence Jan Kuklík, Prague Mark Kramer, Cambridge (MA) James Krapfl , Montreal Jan Láníček, Sydney Libora Oates-Indruchová, Olomouc Andrea Orzoff, Las Cruces (NM) Adrian Portman – von Arburg, Brno Vilém Prečan, Prague/Scheinfeld Peter Ruggenthaler, Graz Dušan Segeš, Bratislava Kacper Szulecki, Berlin/Oslo Victoria Vasilenko, Belgorod Kieran Williams, Des Moines (IA) Ella Zadorozhnyuk, Moscow EDITORS: Vít Smetana, Kathleen Geaney Contents Essays and Articles Vít Smetana: Ten Propositions about Munich 1938 On the Fateful Event of Czech and European History – without Legends and National Stereotypes ............. 5 Dalibor Vácha: When We Walk Down Wenceslas Square… A Picture of the Return of Czech Legionnaires to Their Homeland in Their Recollections and Autobiographic Novels ................................... 15 Jan Rychlík: Jozef Tiso: My Enemy – Your Hero? .................... 44 Jakub Šlouf: Cleansing of Industrial Plants from Collaborationists and “Anti-Social” Elements in 1945 A Political Machination, Retribution Excess or an Incubator of Revolutionary Morals? ............. 65 Marie Černá: “You Have to Fight the Struggle Yourselves” The Political Role of the Soviet Army and Its Local Allies in “Normalization” of Czechoslovakia (1968–1969) ........................... 111 Tomáš Zahradníček: Debates on Czechoslovakism and Czechoslovaks at the End of the Federation, 1989–1992 ......... 143 Prague Chronicle Oldřich Tůma: Doyen of Czech Contemporary History, Karel Kaplan ................................................... 162 Jana Wohlmuth Markupová: Refl ections on the Conference “A Hundred Student (R)Evolutions” ......................................................... 166 Book Reviews Helena Sadílková: A Thrown Gauntlet Josef Serinek and Jan Tesař as a Challenge for Current Research into the History of the Roma in the 20th Century ............................................ 173 Martin Čížek: Ethnic Composition of Czechoslovak Units during the Second World War ............................ 188 Petr Chalupecký: The Persistent Bond of Socialism ....................... 194 Adéla Gjuričová: The Unbearable Lightness of Women’s Rights? ... 203 Lucie Rajlová: The “Velvet Revolution” in a Kaleidoscope of Fates of “Ordinary People” .......................................... 210 Summaries ..................................................................................................... 215 Authors ........................................................................................................... 225 Ten Propositions about Munich 1938 On the Fateful Event of Czech and European History – without Legends and National Stereotypes Vít Smetana The Munich conference of 29–30 September 1938, followed by forced cession of border regions of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany and subsequently also to Poland and Hungary, is unquestionably one of the crucial milestones of Czech and Czecho- slovak history of the 20th century, but also an important moment in the history of global diplomacy, with long-term overlaps and echoes into international politics. In the Czech environment, round anniversaries of the dramatic events of 1938 repeatedly prompt emotional debates as to whether the nation should have put up armed resistance in the autumn of 1938. Such debates tend to be connected with strength comparisons of the Czechoslovak and German armies of the time, but also with considerations whether the “bent backbone of the nation” with all its impacts on the mental map of Europe and the Czech role in it was an acceptable price for saving an indeterminate number of human lives and preserving material assets and cultural and historical monuments and buildings all around the country. Last year’s 80th anniversary of the Munich Agreement was no exception. A change for the better was the attention that