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Intelligence evaluation of the war activities of Czechoslovak paratroopers
Špitálník, Zdeněk ; Pondělíček, Jiří (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Part of the archival material of the Intelligence Service, stored in the Military Historical Archive in Prague, are dozens of protocols with Czechoslovak parachutists, taken in the summer of 1945, immediately after the end of their combat activities. This is quite unique material suitable for a comparative study. From the protocols it is possible, for example, to evaluate matters of a technical nature, such as the equipment of individual groups, their rations, the quality of false documents, the amount of funds, as well as the length and type of training. At the core of the accounts, then, were extensive descriptions of combat activity. An interesting and innovative perspective is the comparison of the differences between parachutists from the West and those who were dropped from the USSR, moreover confronted with the Gestapo's point of view. The aim of the thesis is, based on the same questions of a selected sample of parachutists, to compare selected aspects of special operations, tracing here some phenomena and specificities.
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Socioeconomic consequences of Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II
Vojtuš, Michal ; Anděl, Petr (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Socioeconomic consequences of Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II Abstract This bachelor thesis describes the consequences of wartime internment of Japanese Americans in the USA. It is concerned with short- and long-term socioeconomic effects of the incarceration. The first part of the thesis introduces Japanese immigration to the United States and the struggle of the pacific states to reduce it. The next chapter informs the reader about the internment itself, including its causes, process and the reasons of its termination. The third part is concerned with the socioeconomic status of the community between the two world wars. The main focus of the chapter is to tell why Japanese Americans chose agriculture and small farming over other professional fields. The socioeconomic consequences of the internment are analyzed in the main chapter. The study reflects the short- and long-term effect of incarceration on Japanese Americans. The conclusion overviews the findings of the thesis and also provides a quick summary of the redress movement which achieved a formal apology and financial compensation to the survivors of the internment. The main focus of the work is to analyze the post-internment shift from agricultural occupations to other fields, to review the economic losses and...
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Top hat for everyone: The image of Britain in the newspaper discourses of Czechoslovak exile and its Third Republic afterlife
Kłusek, Johana ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Brenner, Christiane (referee) ; Cornwall, Mark (referee)
The thesis focuses on the image of Britain in newspaper discourses of Czechoslovak exile during the Second World War and describes how it affected the post-war development of the country. It argues that the exiles saw Britain as the appelative Other, into which they projected their visions and fears. Anglophilia, born out of lived experience as well as objective needs of the discourse's producers, brought both benefits and detriments. It meant discursive liberation from Germans as the old referential Others and finding a safe discursive space in the severely brutalized world. Yet the hope that Czechoslovakia could adopt both "conservative" and "socially progressive" qualities of Britain proved naïve in the face of the post-war geopolitical reality. Communists appropriated the image of Britain to fit their own needs after the war. While Britain of former exiles, now democratic socialists, was still portrayed as superior to Czechoslovakia, communist Britain was depicted as an equal partner with virtues as well as flaws. The "equalization" of Britain contributed to the preservation of illusion that Communists were devoted to the principles of democracy.
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Alone Amid the Storm: The Hungarian Uprising and the Western Powers
Ding, Xiaopeng ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Toth, Gyorgy (referee)
The purpose of this thesis is to review and revise all historical evidence hitherto available concerning the international aspects of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Its scope includes several layers, including how the peoples in the West, as well as their leaders, behaved during the crisis. It will look at the international arena in 1956 from the Hungarian perspective, as well as attempt to come to a historical explanation for Western, and specifically American actions during the uprising, and the precepts which led to them. In doing so, it shall in particular take a careful revision of the long-standing charges levelled against the West, concerning its alleged passivity, hypocrisy, or willingness to escalate the crisis via the controversial broadcasts of Radio Free Europe.
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Forms and Transformations of Antisemitism among British Political Elites during World War Two
Trněná, Adéla ; Matějka, Ondřej (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Great Britain had to deal with a number of issues linked to European Jewry during World War II. Many Jewish refugees, seeking asylum from Nazi persecution, were trying to get to the country, creating the danger of triggering a wave of antisemitism in British society. Furthermore, members of the Government were compelled to react to news of the systematic killing of Jews by the Nazi regime. Nevertheless, anti- Jewish sentiment was present among British political elites even in this difficult situation. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to examine manifestations of antisemitism among British politicians during World War II and to ascertain whether their antisemitic views could have affected their policy-making and whether this anti- Semitism was somehow specific.
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Ratlines in the context of participating states
Vrzal, Adam ; Eberle, Jakub (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the motives of individual participants in the operation of escape routes called Ratlines, especially during and after the Second World War. Ratlines were escape routes that used to escape mainly Nazi war criminals from justice. The work first deals with the thirties and the period of war, which is associated with the creation of the first Ratlines in Spain. Furthermore, the work is devoted to the Red Cross and the process of issuing travel, so as to understand how the Nazis managed to gain a new identity. The last part of the thesis is devoted to the Italian Ratlines, where the functioning of the Refugee Assistance Commission and two of the most famous Italian Ratlines are examined. The main research question is the motivation of individual participants, which are mainly found anti-Semitic and national motives, which led to the participation of Alois Hudal or Krunoslav Draganovič in the issue of Ratlines. Another issue that the work dealt with was the participation of parts of the Roman Catholic Church, where the work came to the conclusion that it was primarily individuals or groups, as was the case of the two above-mentioned priests. In conclusion, the work deals with the influence of communism on the Roman Catholic Church and the emergence of the Ratlines,...
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