Behind the Iron Curtain (3)

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

This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The original version of the journal Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) is the part of CEEOL also.

Behind the Iron Curtain (2)

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

This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History), which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The original version of the journal Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) is the part of CEEOL also.

The SOE and Preparations for the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich

Author(s): Eduard Stehlík / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

On Wednesday, 27 May 1942, at 10:35 AM, Warrant Officers Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, sent from the UK, carried out the assassination of the acting Reich Protector, SS-Obergruppenführer and Police General Reinhard Heydrich, who was travelling from his home in Panenské Břežany to Prague. We are at present marking the seven decades that have elapsed since this important historical moment (it really was a moment – about twenty seconds long). What role in the whole operation was played by the Special Operations Executive (SOE)?

We Serve Our Nation...

Author(s): Jaroslav Čvančara / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Many books and studies as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles have been written about the Mašín brothers. With the exception of a few partial references, nothing substantial has been said about their activities in the United States Armed Forces. That is why this mosaic of facts, assembled from private correspondence and personal interviews has been put together. It is accompanied with a collection of unique photographs and documents from the archives of Ctirad and Josef Mašín, for the most part as yet unpublished.

Wartime Wounds Cast Long Shadow over Czech Society - Czechs were among Nazi Germany’s first foreign victims

Author(s): Lukáš Vlček / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Czechs were among Nazi Germany’s first foreign victims, with Prague the last capital to be freed at the end of World War II. Capitulation, occupation and oppression cast a long shadow which persisted into the post-war period.

Petr Brod, Czech Republic

Author(s): Petr Brod / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This conference is subtitled “The View of Historians and Legal Experts”. I myself am neither a professional historian nor an expert on the law. Rather, I speak from personal experience as somebody who comes from a family that suffered in various ways under both totalitarian systems, and as somebody who lived in exile and in his own way took part in activities aimed against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia – in my case, at foreign radio stations. There are in essence two strands to what I would like to speak about. I will partly attempt to answer certain questions which come under this panel’s heading. And I would also like to consider certain aspects of these issues from the Jewish perspective. That is because we find in the histories of both the 20th century’s totalitarian regimes tragic and interesting links to Jewish history. Some have already been discussed, and I have my own perspective on them.

Ntsiki Sandi, South Africa

Author(s): Ntsiki Sandi / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Chairperson, I first want to thank the organizers of this very important conference for inviting me to come and be one of the speakers today, and share the experiences of our respective countries since the collapse of dictatorships. I thank the Czech Republic’s office in South Africa for quickly arranging that I get the visa to enter this country. My sister the Honourable Ambassador Madam Sandra Botha and her staff , for their very prompt assistance in this regard. I think this is a very important conference which will pave the way forward not only for the people of the Czech Republic but for all the nations of the Central and Eastern Europe. As South Africans we wish you well in your endevours to transform your justice systems in the post-communist era, but more importantly the need to dig out the truth about the past so that your people can be reconciled.

About the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The Institute was founded based on Act No. 181/2007 Coll. passed by the Parliament of the Czech Republic. It assumed work on 1 February, 2008. Its mission includes the study and evaluation of the period of Nazi occupation and communist rule in former Czechoslovakia, the anti-democratic and criminal activities of the state, especially its security services, and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia; the analysis and documentation of the reasons for the liquidation of the democratic regime, and of the active support for and resistance against the dictatorships, as well as the documentation of Nazi and communist crimes. Through and together with its subordinate entity, the Security Services Archive which administers over 18 km of files, the Institute acquires relevant documents, ensures their digitisation and makes them accessible to the public. The Institute’s further mission is to raise awareness, disseminate information and educate the public, in cooperation with like-minded institutions and persons at home and abroad.

The expulsions and resettlements of people in the German-occupied territories of Poland (1939 – 1945)

Author(s): Maria Rutowska / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Germans as perpetrators and victims

Author(s): Zbigniew Mazur / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

II wojna światowa w prozie Wiesława Myśliwskiego

Author(s): Bartłomiej Krupa / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Antifašistička borba

Author(s): Adna Nalić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

U Bosni i Hercegovini period Drugog svjetskog rata obilježavaju drugarice, ilegalke, komunistkinje, borkinje, partizanske ljekarke i narodne heroine. Žene počinju da se uključuju u politiku postajući članice Komunističke partije Jugoslavije i javlja se sve veća želja da javno djeluju. Prvi put se javlja ideja o ravnopravnosti spolova te se dovode u pitanje stereotipi i tradicionalne vrijednosti, što rezultira stvaranjem organizacije Antifašističkog fronta žena.

Keineswegs Desinteressiert. Die Pläne NS-Deutschlands mit Jugoslawien 1940/41

Author(s): Katrin Boeckh / Language(s): German Publication Year: 0

Der deutsche Feldzug gegen Jugoslawien im April 1941 steht nicht nur in engstem Zusammenhang mit der Invasion in Griechenland, sondern auch mit dem sich anschließenden Angriff auf die Sowjetunion. Mit diesem schlug der NSWahn der Herrschaft über den europäischen Kontinent in einer neuen Qualität eines Krieges durch, der propagandistisch als Kampf zweier Weltanschauungen begründet und mit aller Brutalität eines rassenideologischen Vernichtungskrieges geführt wurde. Damit sitzt der Aprilkrieg zeitlich wie auch bezüglich der Art seiner Durchführung an einer Nahtstelle der Vorgänge des Zweiten Weltkrieges.

Transnational Forms of Contemporary Neo-Nazi Activity in Europe from the Perspective of Czech Neo-Nazis

Author(s): Petra Vejvodová / Language(s): English

On the most general level, it is evident that transnational activities and structures play a decisive role in our current globalized world. Accordingly, research focused on the transnational level has gained importance in the fields of political science and sociology. The past two decades of social science research have seen a number of publications written in the area. They include Císař 2004; Kolářová 2009; Della Porta, Tarrow 2005; Imig, Tarrow 1999, 2001; Snow, Benford 1999; Tarrow 1998; and Tarrow 2005. It is noteworthy that each of these researchers has chosen to examine transnationalism in the context of social movements.

IDEJA I ZNAČAJ RAZVOJA MREŽE NARODNOOSLOBODILAČKIH ODBORA U VREMENU ANTIFAŠISTIČKE BORBE U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI (1941-1945)

Author(s): Elmir Sadiković / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

In the free territories of occupied Yugoslavia, during antifascist liberation front led by Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) under the leadership of Tito (1941–1945) there were the first bodies of civil people’s government in the form of people’s liberation boards. By strengthening antifascist People’s Liberation Movement (NOP), People’s Liberation Boards (NOOs) will become an important instrument for combating occupation forces and creation of living conditions for people in the liberated territories. Together with army struggle of People’s Liberation Movement (NOP), this movement, by forming new structures of people’s government on free territories, firstly People’s Liberation Boards (NOOs), later on an antifascist councils of people’s liberation, has established foundations of future state constitution. In the first years of People’s Liberation War (NOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina there were several hundreds of established People’s Liberation Boards (NOOs). Broadening these specific networks, as temporary structures of people’s government, they were especially intensified after conveying Foča’s and Krajina’s directives in 1942. All people’s liberation boards as government authorities raised from people and those boards in war conditions were developing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in other parts of Yugoslavia. By solidification of People’s Liberation Movement (NOP) they have persistently improved their scope of work and activities. Out of people’s liberation boards’ nucleus a strong network of people’s liberation boards was founded what finally shaped ZAVNOBIH (Antifascist Council of People’s Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) as the highest political representative body. After the Second Assembly of AVNOJ (Antifascist Council of People’s Liberation of Yugoslavia) in Jajce on November 29th and 30th in 1943, people’s liberation boards (NOOs) have achieved their full legal affirmation and they have been confirmed as significant and efficient instrument for the organization of people’s liberation war and socialist revolution, until the declaration of Law on People’s Boards in 1946. Linked together, people’s liberation boards and antifascist councils of people’s liberation were actually an integrative process of revolutionary governmental change and formation of new social and political order. Constitutional Law of Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia has confirmed and proclaimed that people’s liberation boards are fundamental bodies of state government and they gained constitutional and legal guaranty and protection. During the development in after war period, their character and role as the government bodies were gradually changed – from local authorities of state government in administrative – territorial units – to the position of general representative body of local communities, municipalities and cantons in this particular historical context, when they have converted into the new representative organs – municipals, cantonal assemblies. Throughout postwar evolution people’s boards were the highest government authorities on their territories and apart them, there were no other authorities of state government within local communities. Therefore, there was no dualism of local government authorities and local state government. Developed in the streak of social contradictories, by their transformation from local state authorities, people’s boards were becoming more and more democratic local government authorities.

ZAVNOBIH – BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA KAO ANTIFAŠISTIČKA ZAJEDNICA VRIJEDNOSNOG PLURALIZMA

Author(s): Asim Mujkić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Author starts with a claim that three decades long domination of ethnic nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) is based on a process of mobilization of internal ethnicities resulting in production of distinctive social realities, which eventually might lead to distinctive territorial-political entities, nuclei of would-be single-nation states. Contrary to this process, based on experience of political solidarity, as a counter-principle, author identifies the principles of ZAVNOBIH (Anti-Fascist Council of People’s Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Author suggests that ZAVNOBIH represents a unique autochthonous compact of social and political unity in all its complexity and plurality of values. Being as such, it represents an authentic answer to the eternal political question: “What holds us together?” This compact is, according to author, based on three important principles: value pluralism (I. Berlin), social justice, and Anti-Fascist principle.

„BO ŻYWI ZAWSZE MAJĄ RACJĘ PRZECIW UMARŁYM“ - RZECZYWISTOŚĆ OBOZÓW KONCENTRACYJNYCH NA PODSTAWIE POWIEŚCI RUDOLFA VRBY UTEKL JSEM Z OSVĚTIMI I OPOWIADAŃ TADEUSZA BOROWSKIEGO

Author(s): Katarzyna Dąbrowska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The aim of the paper is to present a horror caused by the Second World War, and in particular the reality of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The whole paper i divided into two main parts. In the first one i would like to present briefly the profiles of two men Rudolf Vrba and Tadeusz Borowski and their lives before they were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In the second part i want to present their literary works, which are testimonies of the few who survived the hell of the concentration camp and were able to tell about this reality. In my deliberations, i focus on comparing what each of these men felt, experienced, what he learned, what attitude he presented to himself and other inmates and supervisors. On the basis of this information, i am able to create a picture of the reality of a concentration camp, not only its rules and principles, but above all a world in which there is no human identity, only a tattooed number and where any moral choice brings physical or mental suffering, and later death.

Funkce a úloha shromaždišť pro židovské obyvatelstvo před deportací do ghetta Terezín

Author(s): Tomáš Fedorovič / Language(s): Czech Publication Year: 0

During the autumn of 1941, the arrival of Reinhard Heydrich marked a radical shift in the treatment of Jews in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, leading to the establishment of Jewish assembly points. These points were the initial step in the tragic destruction of the Jewish population, with the first deportations to ghettos in Lodz and later to Terezín. The process involved meticulous registration and the mobilization of the entire administrative apparatus. Assembly points were strategically located near railway lines to facilitate transport. The conditions in these points were harsh, with overcrowding, poor hygiene, and constant fear of deportation. Despite the dire circumstances, the Jewish community showed resilience, with some individuals attempting to escape or resist. The points served as a grim prelude to the horrors of the Holocaust, highlighting the systematic nature of the Nazi regime's genocidal policies. The study underscores the importance of remembering these events to honor the victims and learn from history.

Josef Schon-židovský historik Tachovska

Author(s): Markéta Novotná / Language(s): Czech Publication Year: 0

Josef Schön, a significant figure in the Jewish history of the Tachov district, was born in 1860 in Uherský Brod. He moved to Tachov at the age of 43 and served the local Jewish community for 32 years. Schön's extensive research culminated in the publication of "Die Geschichte der Juden in Tachau" in 1927, documenting the history of Jews in Tachov and surrounding areas. His work included detailed genealogies, historical accounts, and descriptions of Jewish life and institutions. Despite personal hardships, including the loss of his manuscript in a fire, Schön persevered in his research. He faced further challenges during the Nazi occupation, ultimately being deported to Terezín, where he died in 1943. Schön's contributions remain a cornerstone of regional Jewish historiography. His legacy is preserved through his writings and the ongoing efforts to study and remember the Jewish community in Tachov. The State District Archive in Tachov holds significant materials related to his work. Schön's life and research highlight the resilience and dedication of Jewish historians in preserving their heritage.

Jevreji u antikomunističkoj propagandi kolaboracionističkog dnevnog lista Novo vreme u okupiranoj Srbiji 1941. godine

Author(s): Andrija Mihajlov / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

n this paper, on the basis of available newspaper materials, as well as relevant literature, the writing of the collaborationist daily Novo vreme about Jews in the context of anti-communist propaganda is analyzed. The selected and analyzed content of an anti-Semitic nature on the pages of New Time is placed in the framework of the German-Soviet conflict and the fight against communism and the partisan movement, which was carried out by the collaborationist propaganda organs of the Council of Commissioners of Milan Aćimović and the government of General Milan Nedić in occupied Serbia during the National Liberation Struggle in the period from July to December 1941. In the work, the emphasis is placed on the author's articles and speeches of Serbian collaborators, as well as on the announcements and reports of the collaborationist authorities, in which there was a connection between Jews and communism.