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The Academic Milieu in Times of Communist Vetting - Higher Education in 1948-1956. Post-war Reform of Czech Higher Education and Is Origins
Jareš, Jakub ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Petráň, Josef (referee) ; Šima, Karel (referee)
This thesis deals with a reform of Czech higher education after the Second World War. While traditional treatments follow the communist experiment from its beginnings until its 'inevitable' downfall in 1989, this work focuses on its roots and end with the adoption of the new Higher Education Act in 1950. This reversal of perspective reveals similarities between the communist reform and modernisation trends which influenced the development of higher education also in the West. We follow the discussion about the future of higher education, which went on in 1930s-1950s, try to see how universities tried to approach the tension between their freedoms and demands for serving the public, and analyse the way in which the communist reform responded to this issue. Czech higher education was formed by Humboldtian principles, which were partly implemented in mid-19th century. During the interwar period, this framework basically remained in place: higher education developed in terms of quantity rather than quality but certain problems with demanded attention also started coming to the fore. Attempts by the Ministry of Education to implement partial reforms met with resistance from the academic institutions and many academics focused on passionately defending the autonomy of universities. During the wartime, the...
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Ladislav Helge: Caught between film and politics
Rousek, Jan ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Koura, Petr (referee)
The aim of the thesis is to map political activities of Ladislav Helge, a film director. Due to his social sensitivity and sympathies for the Red army as a liberator of Czechoslovkaia, he favored left-wing politics. At the beginning of his career he was not involved in politics and instead immersed himself fully in his profession of a film director. His first initiation to the world of politics came with the shooting of Frona. This film represents a turning point in both his artistic and political activities. Gradual de-Stalinization across the 1950s happened alongside Helge's first independent film project and his deliberate joining of KSC. The political intervention of the communist party into the liberal functioning of Czechoslovak film during the Banska Bystrica film festival determined his political activism that was to follow. In the mid 1960s Helge, as a leader of a professional film organization FITES, stood up to the attempts of the communist functionaries to curtail the artistic freedom of filmmakers belonging to the New Wave movement. Between 1968 and 1969 he led the Coordinating committee of creative associations and defended the freedoms gained during the Prague Spring. Soon after, his employment at Barrandov studios was terminated. In 1977 he signed the Anti-Charter. The last chapter...
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Exile magazine Sunday Herald at the turn of 1989/1990
Brichta, Miloslav ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Rychlík, Jan (referee)
Sunday Herald is the date of its establishment, the year 1891, the oldest expatriate general periodical. It represents an interesting probe into the way of thinking expatriate community over time, due to historicals events in Europe is also becoming a journal created by exiles. Reflection on the events of 1989 shows the wiewpoint of its creators, for the most part voluntary contributors evaluation evolution from a distance and taking into account their own life experiences and ideas. Texts excel straightforward rawness, linguistic style and emphasis on the Czech national tradition reminiscent of the world thought the first half of the twentieth century. The reason is the mix of authors and contributors, there are basically two groups, the first, settlers living in the United States for many generations are taking linguistic composition of the czech language and intellectual world of his parents and grandparents, second, post ,,February,, and a smaller part, post ,,August,, exiles to bring the picture of home in form, it would be remembered at the time of their escape. In the political orientation of articles and news commentaries outweighs consistent anticommunism with certain elements of Christian conservatism. There are also anti-Semitism, a racist subtext include articles from South African...
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The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren in Democratic Revolution 1989
Dvořáčková, Magdalena ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Matějka, Ondřej (referee)
The aim of the thesis is an analysis of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) in the democratic revolution 1989. The main questions the author asks are what did the democratic revolution mean for ECCB and how did the ECCB respond to this, how did the ECCB evolve in the first year of the liberal democratic system and how did the ECCB put up with the communist past. Method of thesis is historical analysis. This method is critical evaluation of archival sources, which are articles in the evangelical journals from this era and secondary literature. Publications used to indicate context deal with democratic revolution 1989 chart the history of the ECCB in 1948-1989 and value this period by members of the ECCB themselves. Democratic revolution gave the ECCB not only the freedom, but the oportunity to evaluate recent past, as well. The splitting-up of the church, roots of which were deep in times of nondemocratic system, grew up, due to different approach to this affair in the ECCB. Josef Hromádka, synod senior and deputy chairman in the Government of National Understanding, played a specific role in the discussion of the ECCB. Despite of uncertainty and disunity, the ECCB made a few specific steps to putting up with communist past, which were more significant than in other Churches in the Czech...
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The view of american film in the Fifties in Czechoslovakia
Poliačik, Cyril ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Koura, Petr (referee)
This thesis deals with the view of American film formed by the journalists in Czechoslovakian film periodicals in the period after the second world war and in the fifties. My goal was to show how much the point of view of Czechoslovakian film journalists on American film changed during this period, which topics were discussed and to what extent was the view identical to the ideology of CPC. In the thesis I worked with the the film periodicals, mostly with periodicals Kino, Filmová práce, Filmové noviny and communist cultural magazine Tvorba. The first chapter deals with the cultural and political situation, mostly in the third republic, it particularly focuses on film periodicals and film journalists. The second chapter presents the image of American film presented in Czechoslovakian film periodicals. This chapter consists of five parts, where first part is introductional and gives definitions of specific phenomenons and the other four parts explain the image of American film on concrete themes. First chapter is about cultural and political situacion, mostly in third republic, with focus on film periodicals and film journalists. Second chapter is the view of american film present in Czechoslovakian film periodicals. This chapter consist of five parts, where first part is general introduction and defined...
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Alternative political thought in Czechoslovakia between 1969 and 1977: acteurs, social networks, ideologies
Jansa, Marek ; Spurný, Matěj (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with political thought of Czechoslovakian opposition between the years 1969 and 1977. Through the analysis of oppositional documents it shows its intellectual and social context, its conceptions and political aims. The first part of this thesis describes institutional development of opposition and its relationship to the state power at the begining of the period of so called normalisation. Second part analyses oppositional political programmes. It focuses on differences between oppositional groups and their conceptions of political, social and economical life. It also tries to reveal social and intellectual context of these programmes. Last part deals with topics common to all oppositional groups. Particular attention is paid to the problem of oppositional relationship to socialism and development of legitimacy of the opposition.
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KSČ and political development in the district of Ústí nad Labem between 1945 and 1948
Linhart, Martin ; Rychlík, Jan (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
Footnote: In the graduation thesis I focus on the study of activities of KSČ in the district of Ústí nad Labem in period between years 1945 and 1948. The basis of my work comprise study of sources and literature. I concentrate my interest particularly on following thematic fields: organizational activity, personnel administration, activities in trade unions and acting in bodies of local self- government (ONV and MNV Ústí nad Labem). Naturally I touch activities of other political parties with whom Communists clashed when they aimed to reach their goals. The work should globally depict and appraise activities of KSČ in the district and put them into wider context.
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An Animal on the Battlefield of First World War: Horses and Transport Animals
Hunčovská, Barbora ; Šedivý, Ivan (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
The aim of this thesis is in part to fill the gap that exists in the Czech historiography regarding the use of horses and other transport animals in the First World War. It follows the experience of draught, pack and mounted animals in this war, from its very beginnings to the end, and tries to answer these questions: how were these animals used, what did they have to go through and encounter on the battlefield and what care they were provided. This thesis combines the use of historical sources of both administrative and personal nature with the knowledge and observations gained from the field of horse ethology. It also addresses in detail the relationship between fighting men and their horses and tries to paint the picture of the role of war horses in the representation and memory of the First World War.
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Munich Complex and National Identity in Czech samizdat and tamizdat
Kyselý, Milan ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Šmidrkal, Václav (referee)
The objective of this thesis is to answer the question why is the Munich complex so essential for samizdat and tamizdat authors, how important was its influence on moral decline of the Czech nation, what was its role in the inability to avoid communist plot in 1948 or in the fail of the Prague spring. . The methodological approach of the presented historical-critical analysis of Munich complex in political thinking of dissent and democratic opposition in exile stems from the interpretation of history of ideas by Aloysius P. Martinich, and the conception of symbolic center by Miloš Havelka. In the introductory part, I analyze the Munich agreement in its historical context and the interpretation of events leading to Munich in the official Communist historiography during the sixties and seventies. It is important for better orientation in individual approaches of analyzed authors. The main focus of the thesis is the analysis of publications relating to Munich events from chosen authors. I confront their conclusions with interpretation of Jan Tesař, whose work is the culmination of samizdat discussion about this topic. There is no unified definition of the Munich complex. It is is mostly associated with president Edvard Beneš and moral decline of the Czech nation. Almost all authors mention the need to...
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The Genealogy of the Plzeň Revolt on June 1, 1953: An Analysis of Public Collective Protests of the Plzeň City Population in the Years 1948-1953
Šlouf, Jakub ; Randák, Jan (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee) ; Křesťan, Jiří (referee)
The presented dissertation thesis analyzes one of the largest protests of the Czechoslovak Stalinism-era - the Plze revolt against the currency reform in June 1953. From a conceptual perspective, the work draws on the theory of the so-called new social movements. Therefore it sets the well-known Plze incident into the context of previous protest actions that occurred in the Plze region in the course of the years 1948-1953. This method enables the author to chart the development of several varied protest cultures which had been employed in particular parts of society in Western Bohemia on a long term basis and which inspired the inception and the course of the Plze revolt in the year 1953. This way the work offers not only a considerably more precise critical description of the June protests but also their cultural genealogy. By the means of this genealogy the author reveals the structure of the main social movements that took part in the revolt and an associated complex of social conflicts that caused the protests. There were in particular the following three: a socially-motivated strike movement of industrial blue-collars, a pro-western movement of both student and blue-collar youth and a latent tension within the communist party which was becoming evident through a passive resistance of its rank...
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