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Persons who vigorously oppose the Vietnam War sometimes rely heavily, if not exclusively, upon Nuremberg as the justification for their opposition .
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Persons who vigorously oppose the Vietnam War sometimes rely heavily, if not exclusively, upon Nuremberg as the justification for their opposition .
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This study sets the origins and development of punitive work camps from the period of the Second Czechoslovak Republic (30 September 1938 – 15 March 1939) and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–1945) into the context of preventive police measures which took shape in contemporary criminalistics since the beginning of the twentieth century. These measures are intentionally related to criminalisation of ‘Gypsies’ who formed part of a wider image of ‘work-shy’ population. During the Second Republic, the anti-Gypsy discourse was of key significance in the formulation of legislative measures aimed at persecution of ‘work-shy’ people and in the various demands to create and operate internment camps. Analysis of various sources of police and administrative provenance shows that until late 1941 or early 1942, the occupation authorities hardly intervened in the formulation of anti-Gypsy measures. Their formulation and implementation remained in the hands of Protectorate government and police authorities. Under the surface of contemporary administrative terminology and jargon of police reports, the authors of this study identify conflicts and tensions, which stemmed from the different notions and interests of various social groups that demanded persecution of people described as ‘Gypsies’ or ‘work-shy’.
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This year, the journal Soudobé dějiny / CJCH celebrates thirty years of its foundation. On this occasion, we reached out to selected foreign historians with a brief survey. Its purpose is to bring together diverse reflections on the current state of and trends in contemporary history in the Czech Republic. In the current issue, we offer the first set of responses to the following questions: 1. How do you think Czech contemporary history, as a discipline, is doing? How do you perceive the development of Czech contemporary history from the end of the communist regime to today? In your opinion, which topics and research perspectives remain “blind spots” for Czech and foreign historians? Which topics do not resonate much in the research on Czech and Czechoslovak contemporary history, for historians either in the Czech Republic or abroad? 2. What do you think about the current debates and disputes on the Czechoslovak communist past? Do you think they are productive, either in terms of the scholarly knowledge they produce or in terms of social self-reflection? How do you see the situation compared to the country where you live or regularly work (if applicable)? 3. Which research findings, publications or other results by Czech historians have recently delighted, disappointed or outraged you?
More...Protektorát jako laboratoř sociální politiky
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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The studies on the Roma genocide in Latvia allow us to make assumptions that in some places, the fate of Roma in Latvia was often at the mercy of local authorities and the blind obedience of some local police representatives to superior orders. In contrast, in other cases, there were efforts to avert the execution of such orders. To understand why in one case, we can talk about collaboration, but in another – about resistance to the Nazi occupation power, we use the critical realism approach. Based on written and oral history sources, the article explains the structural circumstances that influenced decision-making (local relations/subordination to the Nazi occupation power, resources, and mood) and the role of individuals in decision-making. In turn, the biographical approach, despite the assumptions about Roma’s passive role during the Genocide, reveals that the agency can be observed in some instances, including the framework of non-violent resistance. It is also concluded that agency is often closely related to the surrounding environment – the rescue and resistance could occur if Roma had place attachment and felt belonging to the local community.
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The article describes the preparations and the role of No. 315 Squadron (Dęblin)during Operation “Overlord”. The unit, which was assigned to No. 133 Wing of the2nd Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF) was primarily deployed in a close air supportrole over Normandy, focusing mainly on enemy targets in both front-line areas anddeep behind enemy lines. In the first half of July 1944 the squadron was transferredfrom the 2nd TAF to the Air Defence of Great Britain command, in order to counteract the threat posed by German V-1 “flying bombs”.
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Review of: Xavier Bougarel, Handžar divizija. Waffen-SS u Bosni 1943-1945. Sarajevo: UMHIS, 2021, 294 str.
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Výzkum násilné germanizace dětí odebraných biologickým rodičům komplikuje nedostatek písemných pramenů i svědectví obětí. Tyto děti, umístěné v ústavech a následně předané německým pěstounům, byly často velmi malé, takže si tuto traumatickou část svého života nezapamatovaly. Mnohým z nich pak způsobilo další trauma poválečné odebrání od pěstounů a přesun k rodičům či příbuzným do vlasti.
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In the summer of 1945, following German occupation and the atrocities committed during World War II, the German minority living in the reestablished Czechoslovak state was exposed to violent acts of retribution. Despite the state authorities’ initial endeavors to prosecute some of the acts of violence committed after the war, the Communist takeover in February 1948 rendered the post-war persecution of Germans taboo in Czechoslovakia. It was only the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that paved the way for both academic discussion and public commemoration of those tragic events. However, it was only at the turn of the millennium that the Czech society’s stance towards the post-war violence started to change. The initial taboo and resentment were partially replaced by public opinion assessing post–World War II anti-German violence more critically. Newly established sites of memory dedicated to post–World War II violence are often seen as one of the signs of a changing culture of remembrance in Czech Republic. There is, however, a lack of rigorous research exploring these monuments and plaques. The aim of this study is to analyze various aspects of these sites as part of a social framework shaping public opinion in the Czech Republic on a local level. In doing so, it seeks to answer the question of how Czech society is coming to terms with the “negatives” of its past. Drawing on oral history interviews, the paper explores the process of establishing current sites commemorating anti-German violence in today’s Czech Republic, as well as the often grass-roots initiatives that lay behind them. Furthermore, the analysis will focus on the monuments’ inscriptions and the message they send to the public, shaping its historical awareness. Understanding society as a structure consisting of various memory communities, the paper contributes to the under-researched area of a Czech culture of remembrance at a local level.
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Review of: Die Enzyklopädie des Gettos Lodz/Litzmannstadt. Hrsg. von Dominika Bopp , Sascha Feuchert, Andrea Löw, Jörg Riecke, Markus Roth und Elisabeth Turvold Wallstein Verlag. Göttingen 2020. 432 S., 32 Abb. ISBN 978-3-8353-3592-9. (€ 34,-.)
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Ovim radom želim skrenuti pozornost na zapostavljenu i prešućivanu temu o žrtvama Drugog svjetskog rata i poraća u Bosni i Hercegovini, prvenstveno misleći na katoličko pučanstvo, odnosno Hrvate, jer su nad njima kao narodom čija je vojska poražena na koncu rata, osim velikih vojnih gubitaka, srpske i partizanske snage provodile masovne likvidacije – kako vojnika tako i civila. U radu sam prikazala zakonske norme iz vremena prije, tijekom i nakon Drugog svjetskog rata te nepoštivanje istih kroz komunistički režim. A poseban osvrt odnosi se na današnje zakonodavstvo u Bosni i Hercegovini, odnosno nedostatak empatije za navedenu temu te nedonošenje zakona u skladu s europskim konvencijama i opredijeljenosti modernog svijeta za poštivanje ljudskih prava. Prije završetka rada osvrnula sam se na projekt izgradnje Groblja mira na Bilima, sjecištu Hercegovačko-neretvanske županije i Zapadnohercegovačke županije, koje simbolično čuva spomen na svaku žrtvu i gdje se nalazi kosturnica za neidentificirane žrtve do sada pronađene u ovim županijama. Također podsjetila sam na neke od velikih stratišta u kojima još nespokojno leže posmrtni ostaci, kosti vezane žicom i lubanje s rupama od metka.
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The presented article deals with the mutual relations between the State president of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and each of the individual Reich Protectors and Acting Reichs Protectors. Mainly individual interactions, two-way influence and perception and evaluation of these persons are examined.
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The paper is the first attempt to map Emil Hácha’s relationship to music and the music scene, providing also an overview of how he was perceived by the music scene. It covers the music-related agenda in the Archive of the Office of the President of the Republic. The text also brings a classification of musical compositions associated with Hácha: gifts, adoration pieces on the theme of Emil Hácha and satirical political songs.
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Diplomat and author of numerous award-winning books George F. Kennan (1904–2005) became an influential figure in American foreign policy shortly after the Second World War. As chargé d’affaires to Moscow, in the so-called Long Telegram, hearticulated the principles that became the basis of the strategy of containment between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1938–1939, he worked at the embassy in Prague and thirty years later published a selection of diplomatic reports on the situation in the Czechoslovak Second Republic and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which he sent from Prague (and later also from Berlin) to Washington. The book "From Prague after Munich: Diplomatic Papers 1938–1940" (Princeton, Princeton University Press 1968) has now been published in Czech translation under the title "Z Prahy po Mnichovu: Diplomatické zprávy 1938–1940", with an introductory study by historians Vít Smetana and Jiří Ellinger and in Smetana’s careful edition. The reviewer introduces the career of George F. Kennan, describes the circumstances of the creation of this volume, and analyses its contents. In his view, although highly authentic, Kennan’s analyses also reveal an occasional ignorance of local historical realities and they reproduce some of the diplomat’s ethno-cultural prejudices. It is evident that Kennan applied the principles of realpolitik and observed the Central European region through the lens of a great power.
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The article contextualizes and presents an unpublished paper by Tommaso Fiore that served as the text for the series of lectures on Poland given between 1953 and 1954 throughout Italy following his 1953 trip, which would result in the book I corvi scherzano a Varsavia (The crows joke in Warsaw). The document presents in a concise form all the most favourable themes and impressions that had struck the Apulian writer and politician on Poland undergoing reconstruction after the disaster of World War II, in a continuous and hopeful comparison with the fate of the Italian peninsula.
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The article analyzes two projects for commemorating World War II victims in Berlin. The source basis are Bundestag documents, i.e., transcripts of plenary sessions, parliamentary questions and government responses, as well as draft resolutions and the resolutions themselves. This is because it is the responsibility of the Bundestag, among other things, to adopt the relevant resolutions on the basis of which the executive bodies implement plans to erect memorials to Nazi victims. The first project concerns a memorial of the Polish victims of the German occupation from 1939 to 1945 (Polen-Denkmal zum Gedenken an die polnischen Opfer der deutschen Besatzung 1939 bis 1945). The second is to document the German occupation throughout Europe (Dokumentationszentrum “Zweiter Weltkrieg und Besatzungsherrschaft”). The implementation of both projects was supported in the coalition agreement of 7.12.2021. However, comparing the pace of work on both projects, it should be noted that preparations for the Documentation Center project are progressing much faster and are finding more support in the government than the site for the commemoration of Polish victims.
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The article presents the procedure for the conclusion of peace treaties with the five former satellites of Nazi Germany after the end of the Second World War. The paper uses the methodology of the historical and legal analysis. The focus is on the accessible State Department archives for the Potsdam Conference of the Big Three, the first session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London, and the December 1945 conference of the Foreign Ministers of the USSR, the United States, and the United Kingdom in Moscow. The negotiations between the three Great Powers leading to the decision to hold the Paris Peace Conference in 1946 are examined. Conclusions are made about how the USA, the United Kingdom and the USSR did not spare efforts to maintain complete control over the process without allowing other powers to interfere.
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One of the most essential ideas of modernity is the idea of sovereignty. Usually, this idea is seen either in the context of international relations. Nevertheless, this concept has a moral and a theological meaning whereby the last one is the original. Sovereignty is something that pertains to God. It expresses a certain state of being. This state of implies mastery over everything and over oneself. The concept emigrated from its original theological realm to the realm of political philosophy and politics. Sovereignty determines the way humans and society see themselves. It also serves as an ideal for humanity. To become sovereign over nature and over oneself. This endeavor entails also getting dominion over one own nature. Man should become superman/overman. The image of the superman or self-deyfing man guide modernity and now that has found a powerful expression in transhumanism. The idea of the superman/ Übermensch can be found even in the writings of socialist/communist thinkers. Such is the case of Leon Trotsky.
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The presented text by ethnographer and sightseer Aleksander Prusiewicz is kept in the collection of the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientifi c Library of Ukraine in Lviv (F. 88, case 19). In it, the author describes (with varying degrees of accuracy) his fate between 1 September 1939 to 13 August 1941. He especially focused on the siege of Lviv in September 1939 and the fi rst weeks of the Soviet occupation, particularly the arrest of the former Prime Minister of Poland Leon Kozłowski, which he provoked.
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This article aims to present the female personnel of the Offi ce of the Warsaw District Headquarters during the Warsaw Uprising. This topic was not adequately undertaken so far. Women assigned to various services and civilian structures played a vital role during the Warsaw Uprising, and it was noticed by both Polish commanders and Germans.
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