Empatický portrét opata Opaska a jeho "dobrého díla"
An Empathic Portrait of Abbot Anastáz Opasek and His "Good Work"

Summary/Abstract: In his book "Křesťanský zápas o českou věc: Působení opata Opaska a organizace Opus bonum v československém exilu v letech 1972–1989" [The Christian Struggle for the Czech Cause: The Work of Abbot Opasek and the Opus Bonum Association in Czechoslovak Exile, 1972–1989], Petr Placák, writer, historian and columnist, deals with the history of the Czechoslovak Christian association “Opus Bonum” in exile and its main representative, the abbot of the Břevnov monastery in Prague, Anastáz Jan Opasek (1913–1999). This lay Catholic association, founded by Opasek and the theologist Vladimír Neuwirth (1921–1998) in 1972, operated in Frankfurt am Main and later in Munich as a spiritual and cultural institution which sought, through symposia, meetings and publications, to overcome the contradictions among Czechoslovaks in exile as well as between Czechs and displaced Sudeten Germans. The reviewer praises the well-arranged, readable and stylistically refined presentation. However, the author’s apparent sympathy for Opasek gives a rather one-sided impression of his work and personality. The reviewer points out the book is based mainly on Opasek’s estate and the opinions of his opponents in exile are too subdued.

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