Mezi represí a progresí
Between Repression and Progression

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia as a Laboratory of Social Policy

Summary/Abstract: Radka Šustrová’s monograph "Zastřené počátky sociálního státu: Nacionalismus a sociální politika v Protektorátu Čechy a Morava" [The Veiled Origins of the Welfare State: Nationalism and Social Policy in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia] deals with a very complex and still largely neglected aspect of the history of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–1945), its social policy. While taking into account the context of the previous formation of state social policy in both Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany, the author presents and explains the theoretical basis for the development and functioning of social protection institutions during the Protectorate. She examines the content of social measures in the fields of work, health and family, which were prepared by Czech experts and implemented by the authorities of the Protectorate within the limits of the interests of the German Reich (especially the ideal of the “satisfied worker”) and inspired by the model of the “national community” (Volksgemeinschaft). Thus, Šustrová argues, we can speak of the Czech contribution to the legitimization of the Protectorate regime, which she herself dubs with the adjective “national socialist”. Although the specific measures brought social improvements for selected groups of the population, they were accompanied by increased repression and exclusion of other groups (Jews, Roma, disloyal citizens). The reviewer assesses Radka Šustrová’s work as of exceptional quality, useful and stimulating, yet lacking insight into the lives of the Protectorate’s inhabitants and their perception of the social policy that was implemented.

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