Byzance, la Bulgarie, les Balkans

Author(s): Vasilka Tapkova-Zaimova / Language(s): French,Russian,German

The book "Byzance, la Bulgarie, les Balkans" is a collection of more than 70 selected works, devoted on the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and the Balkans in the Middle Ages of the eminent doyen of Byzantine and medieval studies prof. Vasilka Tapkova-Zaimova. The collection includes articles published during the period 1979-2009 and is a kind of continuation of the issued in 1979 work "Byzance et les Balkans a partir du VIe siecle" by renowned London Publishing House "Variorum Reprints".

Hindu istenek, sziámi tigrisek. Balogh András 70 éves

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Hungarian

Professor András Balogh had Seventy years old in 2014. His department published a volume for his birthday. This book contains the studies of his colleagues (47).

Nemzetek és birodalmak. Diószegi István 80 éves

Author(s): / Language(s): French,German,Hungarian

This book has been published as Festschrift on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Professor István Diószegi. 47 of his colleagues have contributed studies to this book dealing with the manifold questions István Diószegi has raised regarding the history of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Žili sme v socializme II. Helena: Biografický prístup v etnológii každodennosti

Author(s): Zuzana Profantová / Language(s): Slovak

Problematike naratívnej každodennosti socializmu sme sa začali venovať v grantovom tíme pri príležitosti 15. výročia Nežnej revolúcie. V roku 2004 zorganizoval Ústav etnológie SAV v spolupráci s Ústavom pamäti národa medzinárodnú interdisciplinárnu konferenciu Malé dejiny veľkých udalostí v Česko(a) Slovensku po roku 1948, 1968, 1989, kde sme sa zamerali na aktuálne a mnohé dovtedy tabuizované témy vedeckého výskumu spoločnosti v období totality (dávam prednosť slovu socializmus). Výstupom konferencie bola publikácia s rovnakým názvom Malé dejiny veľkých udalostí v Česko(a) Slovensku po roku 1948, 1968, 1989. L, 11. (Profantová, ed. 2004), a tiež anglicky dopracovaná verzia Small History of Great Events in Czechoslovakia after 1948, 1968 and 1989 (Profantová, ed. 2006). V publikácii sme prevažne metódou oral history a ďalšími kvalitatívnymi metódami poukázali na mnohé problémy minulosti, ale aj transformujúcej sa spoločnosti.

The Body of God : Word and Image in Ancient Egypt. Lectures Delivered at New Bulgarian University

Author(s): Sergei Ignatov / Language(s): English

The Egyptian state is the living body of God, i.e. of the king. This is the presumption of this book. The Egyptian state is the living body of God, i.e. of the king. This is the presumption of this book. The founder of Egyptology, Jean-Francois Champollion, once wrote: “In such inquiries one can progress with the help of facts only, and monuments are the only reliable facts... ” This is perhaps the best definition of Egyptological studies: patient and conscientious study of the monuments of ancient Egypt. The monuments of ancient Egyptian culture are located primarily in the Nile valley. The evidence of Egyptian penetration far south into ancient Nubia, ancient Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine to the east, imported Egyptian artifacts in the eastern Mediterranean lands, are also of interest to Egyptology. ...

Kapitolami najnovších slovenských dejín. K sedemdesiatym narodeninám Michala Barnovského

Author(s): / Language(s): Slovak,English,Czech

During and after World War II, Slovakia underwent massive political, economic, social and state constitutional changes. Being the part of the international events of the “hot” and Cold War, it had been brand marked by the two nondemocratic, totalitarian regimes – fascist and communist. After the Slovak Republic, which was in 1939 – 1945 a satellite state of the Nazi Germany, Slovakia became a part of the reconstructed Czechoslovak Republic with its specific system of “the limited democracy”. The communist coup d’état in February 1948 had brought the country under the rule of another totalitarian regime, spreading from Moscow to all states of the Soviet block. Though, the Czechoslovak society in 1968 tried to reform the communist system, it was unsuccessful in the same way as some other Soviet block countries, which also attempted to disengage the chains of the Soviet imposed regime. This period of the modern Slovak history has been – mainly after 1989 – a subject of numerous studies. Nevertheless, it is still researched only partially, some problems more other less. At the most is missing the synthesis of the contemporary history of Slovakia. The Institute of History of SAS is trying to fill this gape with a project Slovakia in the 20th century granted by the state Agency for Support of Science and Research. The part of this project will be the collective monograph (as the volume V) dealing with the history of Slovakia in 1945 – 1968, and its authors plan for the future also the next, sixth, volume of this synthesis. The book Chapters from the Slovak Contemporary History, which now the reader has in his hands, is also aimed at the presentation of some key or important problems of the Slovak war and postwar history. But it is not the only goal. The publication is also a tribute to the 70. life jubilee of an outstanding Slovak historian Michal Barnovský. His forty-five years of scientific career in the Institute of History have enriched the Slovak historiography in the field of the contemporary Slovak history. In which researched themes and to what extend, the reader may find in the introductory article and in the selected bibliography of Dr. Barnovský. The book begins with chapters showing the multiplicity of the history of the Slovakia and the Slovak question during World War II. The first one (author Jozef Bystrický) describes the role, which the Slovak army played in the plans of the Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defense (MND) in London in 1943 – 1944. Various documents, especially the Directives from 1943, enclosed the views of the London exile, how to engage the army of the Slovak state in the rising against its regime and in military resistance against the Nazi Germany. Though, the Military Headquarters in Slovakia preparing and then in August 1944 realizing the uprising had had to take in account the specific situation on the Slovak territory at the given moment, the MND instructions and directives influenced highly positive the contents, character and the quality of the military-technical arrangements for the rising. The second chapter of this Slovak state points at issue deals with the specific phenomenon of the regime propaganda. In this connection the author Marína Zavacká analyses a Slovak state journal Vĺča (The Young Wolf) for boys of age between 6 and 10, members of Wolf corps of the Hlinka’s Youth organization. It served as a regime-sponsored source of officially approved children’s role-models, including patterns of deeds to be followed. The study summarizes different propagandist vehicles used for making up heroic stories, ranging from social sacrifice to the sacrifice of life. Following four chapters concentrate on several important problems during the period of “the limited democracy”. One of the crucial questions of those times was the position of the Slovakia in the newly reconstructed republic and the search for the model of the future co-existence of the Czechs and Slovaks. Marek Syrný in his text examines this complicated problem from the point of view Democratic Party (DP), which arouse from the Slovak National Uprising as the strongest noncommunist political subject in Slovakia. The idea of its leaders was the Czechoslovakia as de facto federal state. The decline of this DP plans was pronounced in the course of discussions to the three Prague agreements, which had been till February 1948 more and more influenced by the struggle for power between democrats and communists. The next chapter by Slavomír Michálek shows one of the key problems of this period in the sphere of the foreign policy: the aims and the activities of the Czechoslovak delegation at the Paris Peace Conference 1946, which were concentrated on the preparation of the treaty with Hungary. Beside the participation of the two leading figures of the delegation – Jan Masaryk and Vladimír Clementis – the author follows especially Juraj Slávik. Slovak born Slávik, who during his professional life belonged to the influential personalities of the Czechoslovak policy and diplomacy, participated at the finalizing the peace treaty texts regarding Hungary. Although the Slovaks felt the Hungarian problem as the most important for them, there had been another national community in Slovakia which postwar destiny radically changed. The German minority had been evacuated by German authorities, before the Red Army had crossed the Slovak borders (the chapter written by Milan Olejník). After the war had ended many of the Germans returned home, but there they fell under the decrees of President Beneš. Due to them they lost the Czechoslovak citizenship, underwent political, economic and social discrimination and 32-tousand of them were expelled. In 1948 to the rest of them the citizenship was returned, but the minority rights they have been lacking until 1989. The last chapter covering the period 1945 – 1948 belongs to the commentated document in which the French Consul General in Bratislava E. M. Manac’h informs his government about the key political phenomena in Slovakia during the Czechoslovak crisis in February 1948. The commentator of the material – published in Slovak translation and in French original – Pavol Petruf stresses, that E. M. Manac’h stated that the events between 21 and 27 February 1948 had shown the communists, in comparison to their democratic opponents, as better prepared for solving the batte for power. Couple of problems connected with the the communist coup d’état in February 1948 are the subject of another chapters. Miroslav Londák in his text analyses the changes of the economy system in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia, which had taken place in the first, “founding” period of the new regime. They resulted into the socalled socialist economy, based almost entirely upon the state ownership and directed by the centrally composed five years plans. The author also points out the specifics of the development in Slovakia and the determinants of its socialist industrialization. Another sector of economy – the agrarian one, is the topic of the chapter written by Viera Hlavová. The strategy of the communists immediately after the war was to get peasants on their side and therefore they had rejected the cooperatives of the Soviet type. But after the February 1948 the primary task became to re-orient the small agrarian production to the large-scale socialist one, to form state agricultural enterprises and, in the same time, to fight the “capitalist elements” in the country. The village had been transformed according to the Soviet mode, without respecting the specifics of the Czechoslovak and Slovak agriculture. The same regime changes as upon the Slovaks, dropped down upon the members of the Hungarian minority. In addition to it – as Soňa Gabzdilová-Olejníková states – immediately after the coup d’état the exchange of the inhabitants between Czechoslovakia and Hungary continued, the plans were made for the second stage of re-Slovakization and there was no hope for in the Czech lands deported Hungarians to return back to Slovakia. In this respect the situation changed with incorporation of the principles of so-called proletarian internationalism into the mutual relations between the communist parties of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The communist coup d’état influenced also the Slovak postwar emigration, which had been concentrated at the free and independent Slovakia. As Karel Kaplan in his chapter analyses, this Slovak exile was for a long time devided, but after the February 1948 Karol Sidor – one of the leading figures of the Slovak autonomist émigrés – successfully formed the Slovak National Council Abroad, the umbrella organization of the Slovak political exile. The direct influence of the exile states in his text also Vladimír Varinský, who surveys the formation of The White Legion organizations in Slovakia. Although it was possible, that some of these organizations provoked the State Security, the newest research shows that the main cause of their secret existence and activities was a spontaneous resistance of the people against the practices of a new regime. And the reaction of the communist establishment was persecutions. The most brutal form of them had been the framed political trials and the two of them from the beginning of the 50ties depicts in his chapter Jozef Leikert. Based upon the archival research, but mostly upon oral testimony he analyses them from the point of view of their insider, journalist and writer Ladislav Mňačko. He witnessed these trials as the daily news Pravda journalist and influenced the public in accordance with the regime propaganda. But later on he came round to realize its fabricated character and confessed his part of guilt. In the shadow of the “founding” period of the communist system with its totalitarian practices and persecutions stays the sometimes natural development – though politically and ideologically distorted – of various phenomena in the Slovak society. One of them, the development of the Slovak science from its half-amateur stage to internationally accepted partner, shows in her chapter Elena Londáková. She concentrates on the Slovak Academy of Sciences, but deals also with the complex of the state and party policy towards the science and its various branches. On the outside and from the point of view of communist leaders the “founding” period represented a successful establishing of the communist system. But already in this time there were the signs of the crisis, which is immanent to this type of regime. Jiří Pernes in his text summarizes the various opinions regarding its beginnings. Unlike Karel Kaplan, who talks about the crisis in 1953 – 1957, Pernes inclines to take in account deeper tokens of it, which perhaps started the crisis development already in the early 50ties. With the chapter of Václav Vondrášek the themes of the publication move chronologically to the history of the 60ties. He surveys the activities of the Hlinka’s Peoples Party exile at the turn of 50ties and 60ties and the countermeasures of the communist establishment in Slovakia. The efforts to unify this exile abroad, watched the communist regime in Czechoslovakia with suspicion. As the reaction, the State Security activities towards the potential followers of this exile branch started to intensify. So much more that in connection with the further restriction of power of the Slovak national institutions and worsening of the economic situation the discontent in Slovakia had grown. This special Slovak national discontent created also one of the differences in perception of the “Prague Spring” in the Czech and Slovak societies. As the author of this chapter, Stanislav Sikora states, during the attempt to reform the Soviet type of socialism in 1968, both state building nations in Czechoslovakia had their own conceptions of the democratization process. While in the Czech lands the priority was the general democratization of the political system, Slovaks felt it as the opportunity for the further national emancipation. But the newest studies also show that also the Slovak society was more diversified than this traditional characteristic says. The next chapter of the book treats the staffing transgression of the communist regime into the activities of the Slovak Evangelic Church of the Augsburg Confession in 1948 – 1989. Jan Pešek in his text analyses the communist regime attempts to rule over all spheres of the society, including the churches. In the case of Slovak Evangelic Church of the Augsburg Confession the establishment used the traditional election of all church and laic authorities for its own purposes. With various practices influenced the elections to the benefit of persons, willing to cooperate with the regime. In this way the ability of the Evangelic Church of the Augsburg Confession to resist the pressure of the communist system had been markedly weakened. Also the following chapter treats a specific issue. Jan Rychlík surveys the travel relations between Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1980 – 1989. The point is that in connection with the strikes in Poland and forming the independent trade union Solidarity, the Czechoslovak authorities started to be afraid of the free travel possibilities between two countries. There were two causes for this fear: political and economic. The author very precisely documents the official measures and economic circumstances, which for more than a decade regulated the travel transfer between the Czechoslovakia and Poland. The last chapter of the book by Juraj Marušiak bridges the history and contemporary development. It is an analysis of the perception of the past by the Slovak society and of its influence on the development after the November 1989. The author concentrates on the perception of the two totalitarian regimes – that of the war Slovak state and of the communist period. He comes to conclusion that in the Slovakia the roots of democratic tradition are not strong enough, which should be the result of the political system before 1918. Both totalitarian regimes of the 20th century used these behavior patterns of the population and on the other hand a great part of the people identified themselves with these regimes.

Občan, spoločnosť, národ v pohybe slovenských dejín

Author(s): Milan Zemko / Language(s): Slovak

The author of the book pays attention to four major problem areas in the modern history of the Slovak nation, the society and the country. The research is focused on the Slovak history in the first half of the 20th century and, particularly, the period of the Czechoslovak Republic between the two World Wars. In chapters of Part 1 entitled Slovak Society within Changes of Historical Time the author tried to classify relatively short period of interwar Slovak history in wider historical interrelations. In the first chapter he examines the problem of periodization of the Slovak history within the context of history of the other Central European nations, and points at the open methodological questions of the Slovak history research ensuing from insufficient investigation of the changing collective identity of the Slovaks. The next two chapters of Part 1 are devoted to historical heritage of the Slovaks and its peripetia related to generation of Ľudovít Štúr, as the first politically oriented and functioning generation in the modern history of the Slovaks, and following generations up to the origin of Czechoslovakia in 1918. The topic of the following chapter is the examination of historical traditions and stereotypes of the last two centuries which support, eventually weaken the renewed democratic political system in Slovakia after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989 and the origin of the independent Slovak Republic in 1993. Next two chapters research a historical memory of the Slovak society relating to the autoritarian Slovak Republic between 1939 and 1945 and to the Slovak National Uprising of 1944, being the symbol of anti-fascist struggle and democratic future of Slovakia. The last chapter of Part 1 deals with the simplifying contradiction between the civil and national principle in the history and the present time, as manifested in expert discourse as well as in journalism upon renewal of the democratic regime after 1989. In Part 2 entitled Politics and Its Faces on Interwar Party Arena the author is concentrated on domestic policy in interwar Czechoslovak Republic. The first chapter deals with violation of some democratic rules in the first decade of existence of the new Czechoslovak State. The further two chapters are concerned with the question of relations between the Agrarian Party, as the largest government party and Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party in the time of functioning in the joint government coalition in the second half of twenties of the former century and the conflict relations between two head personalities of the Slovak agrarians Milan Hodža and Vavro Šrobár. The subject of the author’s study is also the trend of authorities to keep the cult of the first president of the Republic T. G. Masaryk already during his lifetime in dimensions unusual for the European democratic countries. The last but one chapter of this part of the book examines the fragility and weakness of the Slovak democracy which had fully manifested itself in autumn months of 1938 after adoption of Munich Agreement by the Czechoslovak government. The People’s Party had managed then, also due to inability of the weakened democratic parties to remove in a short time the parliamentary democracy and to set down an authoritative rightist regime in Slovakia. The loyal service of the Slovak intellectual Vladimír Clementis to the Communist movement and regime, for which he was “rewarded” by death penalty and execution in 1952, is depicted in the last chapter of this part of the book. Part 3 of the book entitled Political Echoes of Ethnic Colourfulness of the Republic in Interwar Period is devoted in its five chapters to one of the most remarkable features of interwar Czechoslovakia and its consequences – to question of more or less conflict coexistence of nations and ethnic groups living in this Republic. The examination of regional aspects of the ethnic problem in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, is treated in the first two chapters of this part of the book. The next two chapters are concerned with policies of the national minority parties in the Czechoslovak Republic and participation of the German minority parties in the government coalitions of the interwar period. Based on the research the author comes to the conclusion that the proportional electoral system of interwar Czechoslovak Republic enabled in principle equitable representation of national minorities in the Parliament, and some German minority parties took an active part in the government policy since mid-20’s up to spring 1938, when the political game was energetically encroached by a strong external factor – Nazi Germany. The last chapter is devoted to interwar sources and inspirations for, in final consequences, unsuccessful attempt of radical “solution” of Hungarian question in Czechoslovakia after World War II. The final part of the book entitled Slovakia in the Modern Central European History includes the chapters with a various themes concerning the position of Czechoslovakia and, in its context, of Slovakia in the Central European area: a sharp critique of Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 1935 from the point of view of radical rightist and nationalist newspaper Nástup, differences in views on postwar future of Central Europe by two prominent exile politicians – the former president Edvard Beneš and the former prime minister Milan Hodža during World War II, complex interwar and war geopolitical challenges for Czechoslovakia faced with by E. Beneš, as well as the CzechoslovakHungarian and Slovak-Hungarian disputes about the southern border of Slovakia since the Trianon Peace Treaty of 1920 up to the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947. The influence of the modern Central Europe history on international position of the Slovak Republic after attaining of its independence in 1993 is outlined in the final chapter of this part of the book. To the book is added, as a historical document, a politological reflection of the spring 1968 entitled Socialism and National Democracy drafted as a contribution to a discussion on the future of the Slovak society in the period of the so-called Prague Spring, that is, before occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact armies.

Rok 1968. Eto vaše delo

Author(s): / Language(s): Slovak

The book Rok 1968 Eto vaše delo is based on lecture cycle, organised by the Slovak Institute in Prague in cooperation with the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Institute for Contemporary History of the ASCR. The aim of this lecture cycle was to remember about the 40th anniversary of the reform process in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The lectures presented by Slovak historians, were extended and collected as papers, that are part of this book. The aim of the particular papers is to analyse the main aspects of the reforms, further their ideological roots, as well as their political, social and economic casualties. The authors intended to reflect the immanent development of the autonomous reform process in Czechoslovakia, taking into account both political, constitutional, national-political, socioeconomic, cultural and confessional issues. The opening paper written by Professor Ivan Laluha is an authentic testimony about the gradual maturation process, that was proceeding the reforms in the field of economic theory, which is the main field of interest of the author. The author’s goal was to outline the efforts undertaken in order to achieve a further development of reforms in the constitutional and national-political sphere. Jozef Žatkuliak is analysing the genesis of the ideas proposing a new, federal constitution for Czechoslovakia. The key focus of Slavomír Michálek’s study is based on the American political context of the Czechoslovak attempt for reform of Socialism. There is no doubt, that, during that time, the United States of America and the Soviet Union were trying to reach an agreement and that both sides were conducing a bipolar détente politics. On the one hand, in Washington there was a kind of sympathy for the reform process taking place in Czechoslovakia, but on the other hand, it was perceived as an internal problem of the Soviet Bloc. Two following studies writen by Stanislav Sikora are dealing with the ideological background of the Prague or Bratislava Spring, involving a critical analysis of the term „Socialism with human face”. In his study, Miroslav Londák is explaining the main principles of the economic reform in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by going to the roots and anatomising the process of industrialisation of Slovakia since 1948. Furthermore, Londák is paying close attention to the efforts of Slovak economists undertaken in order to replant the special economic needs of Slovakia; these efforts were closely connected with the preparations for a federalization of the Czechoslovak state. The study of Jan Pešek is dealing with the process of a limited regeneration, under conditions of the Communist regime, of Churches. Elena Londáková is broaching the issue of reform movement in culture. She emphasised, that it were above all the exponents of cultural life, who acted as the pioneers of the reform movement and, in the same time, as the main critics of the whole social and political system.

Slovensko a svet v 20. storočí. Kapitoly k 70. narodeninám Valeriána Bystrického

Author(s): / Language(s): Slovak

The chapters of the 20th century history creating this book deal with the important moments from the history of modern Slovakia in the changing world. The authors – friends and disciples of PhDr. Valarián Bystrický, DrSc. – are presenting here the newest results of their research and its critical evaluation. What they all have in common with Valerián Bystrický is the conviction that the 20th century Slovakia kept the same developing rhythm as the rest of the world. They agree with his opinion that the Slovak history of this period has to be studied and interpreted from a global perspective. The detailed knowledge of internal changes in Slovakia following its separation from Hungary, of amalgamating the Czechs and Slovaks in the common Czechoslovak state with all its internal and international problems and with its Central European political, economical and cultural context, enables to understand also the contemporary shape of the Slovak Republic – a sovereign state and a member of the European Union. The 20th century world had been changing as well as the Slovak historiography that reflected those changes. And as it is shown in the first chapter of this book, the scientific achievements of Valerián Bystrický are important and integral part of it. They deal with international affairs between the two world wars, with the interwar problems of the Balkans and in the same time with the history of Slovakia. In not so distant period the regime pressure on a creative individuality was hardly bearable. Not every scientist was able to resist it in the same way even on the ground of one academic institution. But Valerián Bystrický succeeded to preserve the clean shield in clash with this period as an author of historical writings and after 1989 as a manager of science. In 1998 – 2006, being a director of the Institute of History of the SAS, he had helped to create the healthy conditions for a free scientific research, where no methods of one historical school would prevail over the others. He should be respected for that. This book intentionally begins with the chapter on demographic development of Bratislava. In the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries, protagonists of the Slovak national movement often regretted that Slovakia did not had a significantly Slovak, city-like national and administrative center. In 1919 it was Vavro Šrobár, the minister for Slovakia, who insisted on the Slovak character of Bratislava. Milan Zemko begins his chapter with the statement that the development of every capital of each state, the progressing of its social and national structure, indicates a lot about the development of the whole country. In the 20th century, Bratislava was officially the capital of an independent state only in 1939 – 1945 and then again from 1993. But already in 1919 it started the career of an informal political administrative, economical and step-by-step also cultural centre of Slovakia – a country with 3 million inhabitants that was part of a newborn Czechoslovak state. This new situation strengthened by internal and external political factors, had caused great changes in “the city upon Danube”, including the changes of its ethnical structure. And Milan Zemko concentrates mainly – using the statistics from the first half of the 20th century – on the transformation of the Bratislava multiethnic character and its gradual “Slovakization”. The following three chapters deal with the history of the Czechoslovak and Slovak political parties in interwar period. Natália Krajčovičová examines the history of the Slovak agrarian political movement – the formation of the Agrarian Party in Slovakia, its unification with the Czechoslovak agrarians and the following development of the party, which significantly influenced the Slovak and the Czechoslovak political scene until the turbulent year 1938. Jaroslava Roguľová focuses on the autonomist program of the Slovak National Party and its significant theoretical ideas and deals also with the standpoints of this party towards reforms of the political administration. The result of her analysis is the characteristic of the four periods of the Slovak National Party autonomist program from 1918 to 1938. In the chapter written by Alena Bartlová the Czechoslovak agrarianism crosses the borders of the republic. In the focus of it is the participation of Dr. Milan Hodža on the international cooperation of agrarian political parties in the Eastern-Central Europe in the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s. The text shows Hodža’s efforts to cooperate with the politicians from Polish and Bulgarian Agrarian Parties and also its limits: the agrarian politicians were not able to consider the broad spectrum of their societies and the crucial specific problems of other classes. After the World War I Europe hoped for everlasting peace, social justice, stability and prosperity. But this optimism of citizens failed. Instead of it there had risen fear of the countries, which were not satisfied by the peace treaties and wanted to revise them. Czechoslovakia tried to face it by building and strengthening its armed forces. Miloslav Čaplovič in his chapter writes about the specific and important theme – organization and activities of the Czechoslovak military intelligence service in 1919 – 1939. In another chapter Bohumila Ferenčuhová focuses on problems of regional and European security from the perspective of diplomacy. She examines the negotiations that had led to the treaty between Romania and France in 1926 and analyzes the role of this treaty in the Versailles peace treaties system. Even in the period of European pacifism, Central and South-Eastern Europe from the Adriatic to the Baltic had to consider interests, positions and the territorial claims of the two for this once returning powers – Germany and the U.S.S.R. Not long ago the objective analysis of the great power policy of Russia and the U.S.S.R. towards Central Europe and the Balkans was a theme that belonged to less frequently researched and almost taboo themes in the Soviet block historiography. Ľubica Harbuľová in her chapter brings a detailed analysis of contemporary results of the Russian historiography dealing with the Czechoslovak history, which are based upon the materials from the former inaccessible archival funds. The Munich of 1938 represents one of the key and dark moments in the Czechoslovak history. The chapter written by Jindřich Dejmek follows less known aspect of this problem. He analyses the permanent and persistent diplomatic activities of Dr. Edvard Beneš that led in 1942 to the declaration of the Munich Agreement for not valid. His success helped to restore the postwar Czechoslovakia in the borders from 1938 (without Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia). The part prepared by Ondrej Podelec deals with the Slovak Republic in 1939 – 1945. It is a thorough analysis of the trials in which the Slovak courts of justice tried in absence the members of political exile and the author examines their legislative background and judgment practices. Due to long lasting procedures of the tribunals some cases were not concluded till the decline of the state in 1945, as it was the trial with Štefan Osuský and co. This analysis also shows, that since autumn 1944 the Slovak judicature was not able to resist political pressure of the regime and the German occupation forces. The chapter written by Slavomír Michálek bridges the war and postwar periods from the perspective of the U. S. – Czechoslovak economic relations. Projects like lend – lease and UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) were part of a specific U. S. help for the countries that had suffered under the German occupation and expansion. Among them was also Czechoslovakia. Her citizens understood very well that the massive UNRRA activities were an American project. Therefore the Czechoslovak communists played down its importance and trivialized its economic effect, because the help from the capitalist country did not fit to their schemes and political goals. After World War II, the limited parliamentary democracy was restored in Czechoslovakia. But this regime differed from the parliamentary system of the first Czechoslovak Republic. The so-called people’s democracy considered the Czechoslovak citizens (except German and Hungarian minorities) as a special kind of plurality and democracy. But it had not been an idea only of the communists who saw in it a transitional step towards their own regime. The democratic parts of domestic and exile resistance contributed to its birth, too. Michal Barnovský in his text compares Polish and Czechoslovak road to one party regime. The specifics and differences between them had not been so significant for establishing a communist regime, but they played an important role in the following development. The attempts to change the Stalinist regimes in Poland and Hungary in 1956 had many-sided influence on the neighboring countries. Dagmar Čierna-Lantayová in her chapter describes the rise of opposition moods among students and intellectuals in Slovakia. But in contrast to Hungary, the socio-political tension was not eruptive enough for mass protests. This was one of the causes why the support for the events in Hungary had been so minimal. Half-hearted attempts of the press to express other than official opinion, were played down prevented by “watchful” censorship. In December 1956, the Czechoslovak communist party officially condemned “the attempt of counter-revolutionary coup d’état in Hungary”. The communist control over the Slovak society had even deepened. Events in Central Europe in 1956 were overshadowed by a global clash of the great powers. Karol Sorby’s chapter shows that the failure of the British and French “Suez adventure” made it easier for USA to take over the leading role in the region. According to the Eisenhower doctrine “power vacuum” in the Middle East had to be filled in by the United States in order to stop the communist – especially Soviet – infiltration of this part of the world. But in the eyes of Arabic nationalists the Suez crisis destroyed the myth of Soviet threat to the security of the region. They viewed the Soviet Middle East policy as more sensitive towards their interests. Sorby analyzes and compares politics of different Arabic states after the formation of Eisenhower doctrine and evaluates its global consequences. For some independent Slovak intellectuals it was difficult to let themselves tie down by the communist regime. Jozef Leikert in his chapter deals with the case of journalist and writer Ladislav Mňačko, whose emigration to Israel in the late 1960s was an act of opposition to the anti-Israeli politics of Czechoslovakia. Through the interviews of Jozef Leikert with Ladislav Mňačko, various authors of Kultúrny život (journal Cultural Life) and members of the Union of Slovak writers we may be involved not only in the atmosphere of this period, but we will meet oppositionists and conformists among the Slovak intelligentsia, too. So-called normalization in 1970 – 1989 almost returned Slovakia to the stuffy atmosphere of the 1950s. That is why we decided to close this book not with the independent and proud attitude of Ladislav Mňačko, but we return back to the phenomenon typical for the whole period of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. In the years 1948 – 1989 it was very important for communists to control churches, because they considered them potential opposition in Slovakia. Jan Pešek examines in his text the institutional instruments of this control: legislation, activities of the Slovak Office for Church Affairs as a highest state authority for regulation and control of churches (which actually did not change during the whole 40 years of the communist regime), church policy of the communist Party and the (mal-)practices of the State security towards churches. Despite protests from domestic and foreign Church authorities – especially RomanCatholic – the regime did not modify either the spirit or the letter of the so-called Church Acts from 1949. The fundamental change came only with the “velvet revolution” in 1989: the communist regime collapsed and the apparatus for the control of churches has gone to the history.

Slovensko na ceste k demokracii

Author(s): Natália Krajčovičová / Language(s): Slovak

The formation of the Czechoslovak Republic was confirmed officially on October 28 and 30, 1918 by passing two constitutional acts – the Proclamation of the Czechoslovak National Council in Prague and the Declaration of the Slovak Nation in Turčiansky Svätý Martin. The implementation of Czechoslovak independent statehood, however, required another two years of consolidation in the territory of Slovakia, a period which ended by signing the Treaty of Trianon in June 1920. The period between these two milestones – October 1918 and June 1920 – was exceptionally demanding for Slovakia and its leading politicians. The author presents in her work “Slovakia on its Path to Democracy“ the complex problems that emerged immediately after the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic and that were closely connected with the process of integration of Slovakia into the new state. The crucial problem was especially the great gap caused by different levels of development of Slovakia and the Czech lands. It was exactly this feature that gave rise to new problems in the process of integration of the two territories. The Office of the Minister Plenipotentiary for the Administration of Slovakia was temporarily in charge of the consolidation of the new political situation. The Minister’s task was made more difficult by the efforts of Hungary to regain the territory of Slovakia or at least a part of it. This “war after the war” complicated the proper functioning of the administration and of the democratisation process in Slovakia, which was lawfully initiated and codified by the Revolutionary National Assembly. Many of its provisions could be implemented in the Czech lands only, as Slovakia had to be put under martial law in March 1919 because of new war events, with a military dictatorship being introduced in June 1919. Supplying the citizens with basic needs became more difficult, which led to an increase of post-war social tensions, disgruntled minorities, and even more complicating consequences on the domestic political scene. The author, besides describing the first steps that were made after the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic and the ideological and programmatic trends of Slovak policy, analyses some key issues that the Ministry Plenipotentiary had to face. These were closely linked to the changes in administration, staffing and funding, and the overall authoritative character of the post-war regime in Slovakia. Along with the national, economic, and social difficulties, they influenced the outcome of the general elections in 1920, which did not favour the Slovak middle-class parties, but made leftist parties victorious. In this context, the author focuses on certain prominent personalities of this era: especially Vavro Šrobár, Milan Hodža, and Juraj Slávik. They were representatives of the new Slovakia not only as government ministers, but also as leading politicians of the Agrarian Party, which played an important ideological, political, and economic role in Czechoslovakia from its beginning to its end. It is obvious that some problems that emerged immediately after the formation of Czechoslovakia (e.g. the struggle for Slovak autonomy and official recognition of Slovak national identity) and were not properly resolved, continued to reproduce themselves. They polarised the Slovak political scene to an unfortunately large degree, reappeared after twenty years in a more radical form, and proved fatal to the Republic as a whole and to Slovakia in 1938.

Spoločnosť - politika - historiografia. Pokrivené (?) zrkadlo dejín slovenskej spoločnosti v dvadsiatom storočí

Author(s): Ivan Kamenec / Language(s): Slovak

The aim of the presented collection of 29 chapters and essays is to sketch a comprehensive picture of Slovak society, reflecting the interactions between its political and cultural elites, as well as the coherence of historiography and historical consciousness in the 20th century. It might be stressed that these relations weren’t static, although in their frames, some resistant stereotypes arose which are still very popular in some parts of Slovak society. The stereotypes, auto-stereotypes and myths never failed to exist; just the contrary – they were going through a process of specific evolution, influenced by numerous fundamental, state-political and constitutional changes, that attended the life of Slovak society in the past century. These changes, or better, ruptures with global social impact had not only positive, but also – and this seems to be the majority of the cases – negative consequences for the situation of particular generations living in Slovakia. Simultaneously, their determined all spheres of cultural life of Slovak society, much like the Slovak historiography influencing both its internal development and its perception by the public. The presented work is divided into four thematic parts. First of them is dealing with both the direct and the indirect impact of political events and decisions taken by the administration on citizens, i.e. particular parts of society. This is the reason, why the tragic issue of the so-called social engineering and Holocaust is also taken into consideration. The author is supposing, that the discrimination and persecution of certain groups of population defined by their nationality, religious, racial or class identity afflicted not only individual victims, but, taking into account its global impact, it was a tragedy for the whole society. In particular it devastated the moral, cultural and religious values of the society and its constitutional consciousness. Culture also suffered by these socio-political processes. The culture and its prominent representatives enjoyed a specific position within the public life in Slovakia, since they were either substituting the absenting “national policy” or they were an active part of this policy – representing and defending universal ideals of humanity proclaimed by themselves or, in other cases, representing the political elites. This contradicted engagement and existing intellectual disunity were symptomatic especially during the existence of non-democratic, i.e. totalitarian political regimes, which afflicted the most part of the decades of Slovak history in the 20th century. As a logical consequence, it resulted not only in disappointment and frustration of Slovak cultural elites, but also in lost of confidence by the citizens in what they have represented. The situation of the Slovak historiography that, as a professional scientific discipline and in its institutional form was going through a process of intensive development just in the frames of communist regime was some kind similar. Just as the culture, the Slovak historiography was also strongly influenced and eventually deformed by the political reality. Slovak professional historiography was facing two main challenges: on the one hand it had to reflect scientific problems and questions and, on the other hand, there was a necessity of defending its own social status and position within the social hierarchy. This position only partly resulted from the scientific outputs of the Slovak historiography, since the role it had to play was strictly defined by the communist state. During that time, the Slovak historiography was going through a difficult development including hopes, unfulfilled illusions, disappointments, disgraceful moral and professional failures, but also happier stages such as significant achievements or civil resistance against the political regime and its leading figures. From today’s perspective, taking into account these phenomenons, the biggest detriment the Slovak historiography had to suffer seems to be the multiple interruption of natural continuity of its development and the visible lack of confidence on the side of citizens that it is permanently trying to regain. On the other hand it should be pointed out that in spite of unfavorable political and social conditions in the past the Slovak professional historiography achieved remarkable scientific results that allowed, after 1989, to be a part of European scientific community. Fourth thematic part of the presented book is dedicated to chosen historical personalities playing significant role in the modern history of Slovakia. Also reflected are chosen historians, which in their professional career and work were able to harmonize their scientific abilities with their civic attitudes, regardless of the risks.

BYZANTINOBULGARICA I

Author(s): / Language(s): English,French,Russian

Volume 1 of BYZANTINOBULGARICA series.

Država, politika i društvo u Bosni i Hercegovini – Analiza postdejtonskog političkog sistema

Author(s): Damir Banović,Saša Gavrić / Language(s): Bosnian

Državna struktura Bosne i Hercegovine u međunarodnoj stručnoj literaturi smatra se kompleksnom i nefunkcionalnom. nerijetko, ova država se zbog administrativne podjele naziva“monstrumom“ ili “haotičnom demokratijom“. a unutar Bosne i Hercegovine i samo stanovništvo je skeptično u odnosu na državu i njene strukture. stoga političari zahtijevaju radikalne reforme, kojima bi država bila uređena kao centralistička, federalna ili decentralizovana država. većina tih zahtjeva je nerealna, budući da ih je nemoguće usuglasiti, tako da nema konsenzusa o budućnosti Bosne i Hercegovine i njenoj unutrašnjoj strukturi. [...]

Službeno obilježavanje ratne 1991. u Hrvatskoj

Author(s): Sven Milekić / Language(s): Croatian

Grenzen, Chancen, Räume

Author(s): / Language(s): German

Der Germanistenverband in Bosnien-Herzegowina veranstaltete in Zusammenarbeit mit der Philosopischen Fakultät der Universität Zenica vom 14. bis zum 16. September 2023 an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Zenica die 4. Germanistenkonferenz. Das Thema der Konferenz lautete „Grenzen, Chancen, Räume“. An dieser Konferenz haben 30 Vortragende aus BosnienHerzegowina, Deutschland, Kroatien, Polen und Tschechien teilgenommen. Der vorliegende Sammelband beinhaltet 11 Artikel (vier originelle wissenschaftliche Arbeiten, fünf wissenschaftliche Übersichtsartikel und zwei Fachartikel). Der Band spiegelt die Vielfalt der Beiträge wider und bietet einen umfassenden Einblick in die aktuellen Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen der Germanistik nicht nur in Bosnien-Herzegowina, sondern auch international. Von sprachwissenschaftlichen und literaturwissenschaftlichen Analysen bis hin zu methodisch-didaktischen Untersuchungen im DaF/DaZ-Bereich - die Bandbreite der Themen deckt die wichtigsten Fragestellungen zum Themenfeld Grenzen, Chancen, Räume ab. Die Beiträge wurden im Sammelband nach den Forschungsfeldern (Sprachwissenschaft, Literaturwissenschaft, Fremdsprachendidaktik) und alphabethisch nach den Namen der AutorInnen angeordnet.

Visoko i okolina kroz historiju 2

Author(s): / Language(s): Bosnian

The book “Visoko and the Surroundings through History II - The Ottoman Period” offers a comprehensive exploration of the history, cultural history, and architecture of Visoko during the Ottoman period. It delves into the region's urban development, governance, education, and cultural life, highlighting traditions, customs, and the creativity of all communities. The book also examines Ottoman-period architecture, including sacred, utilitarian, and residential buildings, while shedding light on the culture of life, such as traditional costumes and textile handicrafts. Based on original Ottoman Turkish archival materials, professional literature, and field research, the book provides an in-depth look at Visoko’s historical and cultural legacy during the Ottoman era.

Visoko i okolina kroz historiju 3

Author(s): / Language(s): Bosnian

The book "Visoko and the Surroundings Through History III - The Austro-Hungarian Period and the Period of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia" explores the history and cultural history of the Visoko region during these significant periods. It examines socio-political circumstances, economic development, education, architecture, and the cultural life of the community, offering a detailed insight into the region's transformation and heritage.

Židé v Čechách 5 - Sborník příspěvků ze semináře konaného 1. a 2. října 2014 v Teplicích

Author(s): / Language(s): Czech

On October 1-2, 2014 in Teplice, the Jewish Museum in Prague, in collaboration with the Regional Museum in Teplice, hosted the fifth meeting of archivists, historians, and regional museum workers focused on Jewish history in the Czech Republic, particularly modern issues and border regions' history. The seminar emphasized analyzing sources that trace the fate of Jews from border areas after Nazi Germany's occupation, leading to the creation of databases documenting Jewish populations from the 1930s to the end of World War II. Contributions also covered the role of Jews in trade and business development, along with other regional topics. An evening program was dedicated to documenting immovable monuments. The next seminar was planned for autumn 2016 in Kadaň, with a focus on post-1945 Jewish history in the Czech Republic. The authors are responsible for their studies' content, and the spelling of "žid" or "Žid" is left to their discretion.

Židé v Čechách 3 - Sborník příspěvků ze semináře konaného 6. a 7. října 2010 v Tachově

Author(s): / Language(s): Czech

On October 6-7, 2010 in Tachov, the Jewish Museum in Prague, in collaboration with the Museum of Český Les in Tachov and the State District Archive in Tachov, hosted the third seminar on Jewish history in the Czech Republic, focusing on modern issues and the history of Jews in border regions. The seminar included discussions on archival sources for Jewish history, demographic records, and the role of Jews in industrial and business development. Topics also covered the Aryanization of Jewish property and post-World War II restitution issues. Not all contributions were included in the proceedings, but efforts were made to publish them in a planned fourth issue. The authors are responsible for their studies' content, and the spelling of "žid" or "Žid" is left to their discretion.