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Review of: Pustejovsky Otfrid "Stalins Bombe und die „Hölle von Joachimsthal“ (Uranbergbau und Zwangsarbeit in der Tschechoslowakei nach 1945)" LIT Publishing, Berlín 2009, 847 pages by: Milan Bárta
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This article examines the political evolution of Montenegro during the era of Yugoslavia (1918-1992) and the subsequent years of political conflict that eventually led to the regaining of Montenegrin independence in 2006. The First World War and the formation of the Yugoslav state not only meant the end of independent Montenegro but also the emergence of a new political context in which internal Montenegrin antagonisms were played out. While a considerable proportion of Montenegrin Orthodox Slavs supported the multinational but Serb-dominated Yugoslav state, there was also a growing number of Montenegrins who wanted to restore the country’s autonomous or even independent status. This was implemented to some degree in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but then was endangered again during the crisis of Yugoslavia in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition there was growing unrest among the Muslim minorities and civil protests against Montenegro’s participation on the side of the Serbs in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The final result was a stronger anti-Serbian stance not only among a part of the general population but also among a significant section of the old political elite. This eventually led to Montenegro regaining independence through a referendum in 2006. However, achieving independence meant that Montenegro’s other serious problems, including corruption, uneven economic development and deficient democratisation, came even more emphatically to the fore.
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One of the focuses in this paper are, firstly theoretical construction of postmodern reality. So, theoretical synthesis in this paper is presenting those new tendencies in thinking and acting that are results of new time called postmodern or contemporary. Secondly, this article is dealing with critical analysis and questioning Bosnian culture in context of Yugoslavian society. However, the third part of this article is connected to analysis of Bosnian culture and Bosnian art in context of post-Dayton society which apparently becomes so schizoid. Trough ethno political construct, misconceptions of Bosnian reality is highly reflected in kitsch content in culture who are, not only, becoming mainstream that dizzying extinguish any chance of cultural and artistic action for critical analytical and aesthetic. Why some artistic actions are today on the edge of social reality, and why in our society culture is completely second matter for the government? – By this questioning, as a result of conclusion there are some inflicted answers which will bring conclusion and suggestion that there is apocalyptic end not only for Bosnian culture, but for society in general view. Research techniques which provided research are: content analysis, interview and questionnaire.
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The post-war "new woman" was supposed to reject fashion as a cultural practice of the decadent bourgeois world. The paper analyzes the attempt made by the Yugoslav communist regime to establish original socialist clothing outside the influence of western systems of fashion. I will explore the characteristics of "utopian clothing" and the bases of a new aesthetic. Simple, practical, unobtrusive and appropriate clothing displayed the role of women in socialist society to the world at large, at the same time reminding women of the duties and limitations which came with the role. Even though gaudiness was declared backward, the public taste could be appeased through the use of ethno motives. Ornamentation based on the reinterpretation of traditional cultural heritage was interpreted as a defense against western influences as well as a visual display of national harmony. However, the attempt to establish a radically different course in fashion was deeply conflicting. The imposed oblivion towards old dress codes implied a look back: the production of exemplary styles mimicked not only traditional material heritage, but also western fashion of the early 1940’s.
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The purpose of this article, which is informative and is of an over-viewing and analytical nature, is to mark the main stages in the spread of Bulgarian humanities in China from the creation of the PRC to the present day and to comment on the published scientific works in the field of Bulgarian history, including translation literature. The stages in the spread of Bulgarian humanities in China are traced chronologically, they roughly coincide with the separate periods in the development of the diplomatic relations between the two countries and predetermine the nature of the published materials. The change in the focus of Bulgarian history studies in the PRC, most of which have been published in the editions of the Institute of World History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is unfolded against the backdrop of the cultural and political specifics of different ages. Special attention is paid to the scientific, translational and expert activities of one of the best Chinese scholars and analysts on the Balkans – Professor Ma Sipu, who has the greatest merits in popularizing Bulgarian history, culture and political life, as well as in the establishment of the Bulgarian Language Department at the Beijing University for Foreign Languages. In the same context, the article examines the founders of Bulgarian studies in the PRC – the first Chinese Bulgarian scholars who received their education in Bulgaria in the 1950s and early 1960s (Yan Yendzi, Liu Jubai, Jing Pilian, Ma Sipu) as well as the fruitful scientific cooperation between the scholars studying Bulgarian history and the social and political phenomena in modern Bulgaria – Ma Sipu, Yuy Jiahu, Juan Lifu, Zhang Lienfan and others. The study presents Chinese scholars’ interpretations, opinions, analyzes and forecasts connected with Bulgarian historical facts and events against the backdrop of the common development of the Balkan region and often in the context of Eastern European and world development, the facts are accompanied with comparative references to Chinese history, which not only facilitates the perception of events and historical figures, but also supports future comparative research, both in Bulgaria and China.
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Goli otok (Barren Island) served as a site of a political prison and labour camp which was founded in 1949, at the peak of the Tito- Stalin political dispute. It was in function until 1956, when its operation as a political prison for Yugoslav pro- Cominformist dissidents was discontinued. During this period, at least 13 000 political prisoners were incarcerated on the island. Due to the covert nature of its workings between 1949 and 1956, it had been covered up and ignored as a topic during most of the Yugoslav period by the public and the historians alike. In 1980s, however, the narratives about Goli otok began to gradually reach the public. After the break up of the SFR Yugoslavia, a handful of historians who dealt with the topic of Goli otok mainly focused on the socio- political aspects of this political prison and labour camp’s past, drawing on a large body of former inmates’ testimonies about the harsh everyday life in the camp and the peculiar methods of its orchestration. However, the impact of Goli otok political prison and labour camp was not, of course, only limited to the Yugoslav socio- political climate and the individuals living in these times. Its influence is also noticeable on the very site of the labour camp- the island. Hard forced labour undertaken by thousands of political prisoners which included the construction of several workshops and small factories orientated towards the production and the distribution of various stone and wood products is but one of the factors which dramatically influenced the island’s environment. Human dwellings and accompanying industrial constructions erected on the island’s desert- like stone terrain, as well as the now afforested portions of once (literally) barren island are just some of the examples. In other words, the forced labour of the incarcerated thousands is inextricable from the impact on island’s environment, albeit the nominal purpose of this labour was ‘corrective’. This paper therefore aims to contribute to the study of Goli otok from the viewpoint of environmental history. The paper speaks to the works of the authors dealing with the environmental, carceral and labour history aspects in the study of USSR Gulag as one of the examples relatable to the Goli otok story. In so doing, the paper aims to contextualise Goli otok within a wider scholarly space, considering the geographical, ideological implications, as well as those of environmental and socio- political history.
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Designed to confront serious problems, and to prevent their extension, the Popular Front policy adopted by Komintern in the mid 30’s payed the price for all the mistakes of the past. This article explores, in a comparative fashion, how the Eastern European communist parties behaved in the Popular Front era, what they managed to achieve and what they didn’t, and what caused that state of affairs. The analyze takes into consideration Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, and explores the attitude of the communist parties from these countries towards the Versailles System, the „national problem“, social-democracy, fascism (as ideology and as political force). Besides all these issues, inherent to Eastern European communist parties, this articles discusses the way in which Komintern itself dealt with “the fascist menace”.
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The present article is devoted to the development of trade relations of China with two Balkan socialist countries – Bulgaria and Romania during the period 1950 – 1978, i. e. from the beginning of the bilateral economic relations between these partners to the end of the 1970s, when the serious changes in China’s economic development started. The comparative analysis is complemented by their comparison with China’s relations with the USSR and the Eastern European countries – members of CMEA. This approach aims to show the influence of the various factors, both political and economic, on the bilateral trade relations.During the 1950s, the Chinese-Bulgarian and Chinese-Romanian trade were developing in a similar way, pre-determined by the similarity of the political and economic views in the three countries. In the beginning of the 1960s, serious differences appeared and during the period until 1978, Romania was gradually recognized not only as the most important economic partner of China among the European CMEA countries, but also as one of the largest trading partners of the enormous country in general. Bulgaria was just the opposite – its trade relations with China underwent extremely negative development and, as a result, it occupied an extremely modest position not only among the eastern European countries, but also in the foreign trade exchange of PRC.The factors, which determined the two fundamentally different trends, were of political and economic nature. In general, they were determined by the attitude of Sofia and Bucharest to the Soviet Union, not only in relation to its conflict with the PRC. The role of the political factor should not be overestimated. The changes in Beijing’s foreign economic policy during the period under study also had a strong impact on the bilateral relations with Bulgaria and Romania. The same refers to Bucharest, whose foreign economic orientation greatly differed from that of Sofia.
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After the end of the Second World War, in Romania and Bulgaria there were communist regimes loyal to the Soviet Union and to the General Secretary of the CPSU, Joseph Stalin, so that premises were in place for “relations of friendship and cooperation between the two parties and nations” in the name of “the unity of the socialist countries and of the communist movement.” And this was actually true until the mid-1960s, when the policy of the Romanian Communist Party towards the USSR, the hegemonic ruler of this political system, began to change. Without ever getting into an open conflict, the Romanian-Bulgarian ties were affected by the situation, and as Romania continued its autonomous evolution amid the other satellite-countries, disputes became more and more common. This study endeavours to discuss the manner in which the positioning of both countries within the international communist movement and vis-à-vis the Soviet regime and its decisions influenced the relationships between the two countries.
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The article concentrates on how PRL images function in Polish documentary cinematography made after 1989. The authors bethink the presence of memories of communist experiences in modern documentaries, differentiating two basic (and characteristic for this period of Polish cinema) tendencies of presenting the images of socialist past: PRL understood as a battlefield and PRL as an object of peculiar nostalgia (or play).
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The research is devoted to the mythological and literary manipulations of history, closely related to the socio-political situation in Bulgaria following decisive events: the restoration of the statehood in 1878, the defeat during the First World War, the political Changes since 1944, continuing until 1989. The resulting "pre-thinking myths" reflect the lack of historical knowledge as well as the supreme subordination of ideological and political dogmas. At the same time, they play a major role in the formation of the modern Bulgarian community.
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The article presents the influence of Hegel’s theory of ‘historical’ and ‘unhistorical’ nations on the Ukrainian movement in the 19th and 20th century. It reviews the concepts of M. Dragomanov, M. Grushevski, L. Tsegelski, I. Lysiak-Rudnicki, O. Pritsak, I. Reshetar.
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The article is dedicated to the history of one family, whose members have had a prominent place among the ranks of the Bulgarian military elite. The story about the personal and professional path of Colonel Boris Chilingirov is situated at the middle ground between the topics "elite" and "People’s court" and it also contains details about certain moments of the lives of his father and his first-born son. The goal is to use this particular example in order to show some of the mechanisms and paths, which were used in the crushing of the Bulgarian military elite after September 9th 1944.
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The article describes the Muslim problem in Bulgaria in the 1940-1960’s and the role of the Soviet factor in its solution. Based on documents from the Russian and Bulgarian archives and on historical researches, it analyzes the causes of the abrupt changes in the Bulgarian policy in relation to the Bulgarian Turks and Pomaks. The Soviet side also repeatedly changes its attitude towards the Bulgarian policy of resettlement of the Muslims and their assimilation, but eventually determines it as futureless. However, Moscow understands the motives of the Bulgarian leaders, and above all – the fear to upset the balance in the ethnic and religious structure of the country in favor of the Turkish component. The Bulgarian leaders find themselves wrapped up in the maze of nationalist policy and therefore cannot find a guiding “thread of Ariadne”. This later leads them on the path of ethnocentrism, which finds its crudest form in the so-called revival process.
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Undoubtedly, in the formation of history, relations between religious structures and political powers, which are shaped within certain principles, have an important place. The course of these relations determines the strength and domain of both sides. This form of relationship, in some cases, evolves in favor of political power, and sometimes manifests itself as a political direction of religious interests. It is possible to see politics as a direction of religion or to use it in the direction of its own interests in the politics that the Soviet Union has implemented since the Second World War. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Union, which has embraced the ideology of official atheism and struggled against religious beliefs, did not stop using religion/church for conjuration in its own interests. In this context, The Soviet leader Stalin has almost reconstructed the Russian Orthodox Church, which he had been trying to destroy since the early years of the Second World War. Even, Moscow has made serious attempts to make Patriarchate the pioneer of the Orthodox world. In this article, we aim to emphasize Stalin’s church politics and reasons. We will also stress the reasons behind the Council of the Orthodox Churches, which Stalin sought to achieve through the Moscow Patriarchate in 1947. Finally, we will touch on the policy of the Fener Greek Patriarch against these developments.Summary: Throughout history, politics of states have been under the influence of religion. Likewise, religions have directed political authority in the direction of their own interests. Sometimes a religion takes the state under its influence; sometimes under a state takes a religion under the influence and they try to use the other one in the interests of itself. Concepts that define religion-state relations have emerged under the influence of experiences experienced over time. Secularism is at the head of the concepts that determine religion-state relations today. What secularism is and how it is practiced is much debated in the scientific circles. Despite all these struggles, however, no binding definition has been reached for all political issues. Certainly, the subjective structure of states plays an important role in regulating religion-state relations. The political ideology adopted by this political structure and the world view varies. Sometimes political structures with official atheist ideology can break the principle of secularism. While these ideologies are ungodly in their nature, they benefit from political interests. As an example, it is possible to show the Soviet Union with an atheist ideology. Because the Soviet regime used religion in the direction of political interests between 1943-1948.The Russian Orthodox Church, which was very active and competent during the reign of Tsarist Russia, lost its power with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet regime has made the Russian Orthodox Church an illegal institution. The struggle against the church by the regime continued until the Second World War. With the Second World War, Stalin's church politics changed.There is no doubt that this political change has become more than one reason. The first is that the state has entered into a war. Stalin did not want to continue the struggle with religion while the war was going on. Another reason for pushing Stalin for a policy change towards the Church is the anti-Soviet propaganda carried out by the Germans. As a matter of fact, the Germans defined themselves as the savior of the Russian people. It was also alleged that Germany was waging a war against the Soviets in order to free Russian people from communism. Even brochures were taken from the airplanes in this frame. The Germans aimed to break the resistance of the Russian people with this method. Stalin acted to ward off this propaganda of the Germans. Stalin therefore had to keep an eye on church politics and stopped the oppression against the church. In this framework, opportunities were provided for the Russian Orthodox Church. For example, have been approved to organize rites in churches. The priests are encouraged to strengthen hand the people. Also closed churches have been reopened by Stalin. In this way the German propaganda has been wasted.The Second World War ended with the victory of the Soviet Union. Stalin, however, continued to use the church after the war was over. So why did Stalin continue to support the church as an atheist? What were the reasons for pushing Stalin into this policy? Stalin's post-war church policy has multiple causes. The most important of these is spreading the Soviet influence over the entire Balkans and Middle East geography through the Russian Orthodox Church. Undoubtedly this is related to the long-term policies of the Soviets. Because the war has changed all the balances in the world. This has given new opportunities to the Soviets. At the beginning of these, the Orthodox world comes to the Soviet influence. It seems that the steps towards this have been started to be started from 1945. In this context, the Russian Orthodox Church found important activities. For example, the Moscow Patriarch has established relations with other Orthodox Churches. Jerusalem, Athens, Cyprus, Antakya churches were visited. In the end, an attempt was made to collect the Orthodox Council.The struggle of the Western and Eastern bloc emerged after the Second World War divided the Orthodox world into two camps. In this process, the Greek, Cyprus and Jerusalem Orthodox churches under the leadership of the Fener Patriarchate were under American influence. The Serbian, Bulgarian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches under the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate were under Soviet influence. For these reasons, the Soviet regime, which has been fighting for the Church since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, has given up its position. It is understood from this historical fact that a regime adopting irreligion as an official ideology uses religion in its own interests as needed. This indicates that secularism is relative. This study will try to show how the Soviet Union uses the Russian Orthodox Church in its own interests despite the atheism ideology.
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In the paper are used archival records on the systematization of the incomings and movement of the works of Henryk Dębicki, Antoni Piotrowski and Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz in the collections of the National Museum, the National Art Gallery, the National Gallery for Foreign Art and the National Museum of Military History. The paper specifies the features of the lithographs of Dębicki from the National Museum (National Art Gallery) in the print runs, according to the works submitted in the museum while comparing them with other similar collections. It also analyzes the stylistic characteristics of the works of Antoni Piotrowski and Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz in a European context. In conclusion the author presents his views on the contribution of important Polish artists to the formation of Bulgarian art from the period of the National Revival and the few decades after the liberation until the end of the nineteenth century.
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The article presents one of the most turbulent periods of post-war Bulgarian- Soviet relations – from the beginning of the Soviet “perestroika” in the spring of 1985 and the subsequent Bulgarian “reconstruction” to the collapse of the Soviet type of state socialism first in Bulgaria after November 10, 1989 and then in the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. This six-year period completely alters the relations between the two countries, which are at first the closest allies in the Eastern Bloc, and at the end are two countries drawing apart politically and geopolitically, full of mutual claims and disappointments. The study seeks to find the reasons for this sharp turnaround by analysing the documents of the Bulgarian Communist Party about the Bulgarian perspective and the reports of the Soviet embassy and documents from the Russian archives about the Soviet position regarding the situation in Bulgaria. The conclusions are focused on today’s relations between democratic Bulgaria and the Russian Federation which develop in the conditions of contradiction between the new political realities and the historical tradition.
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