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Czech noncommunist left after 1989 and rethinking of alternatives
Andělová, Kristina ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
The collapse of the communist regimes came at the time of the overall decline of the Left, both in the West and the East. In the Eastern Bloc, much of the Left's language was disqualified as a result of its association with the former communist regime, the rejection of which formed the basis of post-communist democratic identities. Although the post-communist situation was generally seen as unfavourable for leftist thought, it nevertheless represented a liberation from a regime which, in many respects, supressed leftist criticism. Social changes in 1989, guided by mass peoples' movements, enabled the Left to understand these changes through their own conceptual apparatus and integrate them with their own expectations. The defensive position of the Left and the "liberal consensus" of the nineties led the alternative leftist thought to profile itself as a leftist criticism of liberal democracy. However marginal their political position was, left-wing oriented authors tried to advocate alternative economic and social structures to those of capitalism, rejecting current pro-capitalist values and practices (consumerism, neoliberalism) and rethinking the changes in private ownership, redistribution of wealth and common values. Key words: Left, liberal consensus, 1989, democratic socialism, post-communism
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Refugee Camp in Traiskirchen (Austria) between the 1960s and 1980s.
Vrba, Jakub ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Spurný, Matěj (referee)
(anglicky): This BA thesis is devoted the everyday life in the Austrian refugee camp Traiskirchen from the 1960s to 1980s. In particular, it analyses the reasons which led the refugees to leave their country of origin. It further examines the asylum application procedure and the key strategies the actors employ within it with regard to their expectations and long-term plans. The thesis then explores the conflicts in the camp, their principal backgrounds and their solutions. It also touches on the question of (un)employment. With reference to the theory of Anthony Richmond and the sources from the Traiskirchen camp, the thesis shows that a clear line cannot be drawn between economic and policital migration. In its stead, it is useful for our understanding of this migration to put emphasis on the refugees' "Sinnwelt", their so-to-say symbolic universe, especially the ideas about the West with which they were coming into the new environment, and on the confrontation of these ideas with the practical experience of the camp. The sources reveal that these images of the West, which often stood as a markedly idealized representation of the Western reality, had influenced the very decision to emigrate, and subsequently exacerbated the shock inflicted by the reality of the camp.
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Reflection of travellers' activities at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in the work of Enrique Stanko Vráz
Motl, Jaroslav ; Rákosník, Jakub (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
Reflection of travellers' activities at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in Enrique Stanko Vráz's work The aim of the offered thesis is to study the issues of exotic lands' presentations given by Czech travellers. Attention is primarily paid to Enrique Stanko Vráz, his work and means of propagation of foreign countries. At the end of nineteenth century and the first half of twentieth century lectures, expositions and books of travels comprised an important part of informing the public about foreign lands. Countries outside of Europe attracted not only the people, who were coming to visit and experience them. But even people, who could not or did not want to leave their homes were longing for discovering those lands. The demand of reports from exotic places of our planet was undertaken by few Czech explorers, who decided to share their experience with the Czech public. The centre of the work will be the ways of the implementation and access of the travellers to the unique information. The main subject of the study will be the archive materials from the Náprstek museum archives and secondary literature from the field of travelling and orientalism.
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Regional Identity and Conflict in Transnistria since Late Communism
Niutenko, Olga ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Janáč, Jiří (referee) ; Nucifora, Melania (referee)
This study examines the issues of Transnistrian conflict, Transnistrian identity and Transnistrian statehood through the fields of historiography, economic development, language and educational politics, religion, Soviet ideology and the place of memory in two parts of the Republic of Moldova, Bessarabia and Transnistria. The results of this study reveal the influence of the above-listed spheres on identity in both regions, the significant role of the leadership of Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova in shaping peoples' opinion and strengthening the idea of Transnistrian statehood, and the existence of regional identity in Transnistria during a phase of transition.
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Gertruda Sekaninová-Čakrtová. A Portrait of a Personality of the Czechoslovak Public Life
Kopeček, Martin ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Spurný, Matěj (referee)
The work deals with the political biography of dr. Gertrude Sekaninová-Cakrtova - left-wing politician and diplomat, that the Czechoslovak public arena, she acted from 30' to 70' of 20th century. The main axis of the paper is thematization of their motivation for political actions over time (30th-70th years), which are based on the background of a utopian communist (socialist) promise with which she identified in the first half of the 30th years, yet. The dynamics of Sekaninova-Cakrtova's motivations in the course of 40 years paper articulate in the context of a whole generation of communist intellectuals and their ambivalent relationship to postwar communist regime during its development.
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Imaginary Elsewhere: The "West" in Czechoslovakian society in the time of Perestroika
Andělová, Kristina ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Randák, Jan (referee)
In societies of state socialism the image of West was usually characterized by high degree of ambivalence. On the one hand the West was a space where negative social and politic phenomena could be displaced - as negative film should the official image of evil West full of social insecurity, criminality and poverty, reassured Czechoslovakian citizens of rightness of building socialism. On the other hand entirely opposite scenes were part of the public meaning- unconcealed admiration of fashion trends inspired by western mass culture (films, music). There was not only the fascination with consumer commodities of the western World, but also an admiration of lot of nonmaterial aspects (freedom of press, traveling, ecologic, feministic, pacifistic movements etc.). The West became gradually something mystical- it was at the same time "familiar and inaccessible, real and abstract, mundane and exotic". This ambivalence and inaccessibility was transforming the West in some mysterious and dreamlike place where instead of evil, the promise of happiness could be projected. Despite the official ideology and censoring attempts that limited the information about life behind the Iron Curtain, citizens in Czechoslovakia had an opportunity to create their own, quite clear image of West. At the same time I am trying to...
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Women, sport and emancipation (1900-1938)
Laurencová, Sandra ; Štaif, Jiří (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
The thesis dealt with the history of the Czech female sport. It also pointed out that the first steps women made into the public life were connected with sport which started to be in vogue in the 19th century. Firstly, I presented the primary features of public life of women living in the Czech lands. It was obvious that there was a difference between social status of women in 19th century and in the present world and female sport needed to develop. The first steps led to philantrophy, where women were introduced to the public activities. Consecutively, I was concerned with founding activities under the supervision of educated and less conservative men who supported women emancipation. There could be included also beginnings of Sokol where the first steps of women towards the physical education. On the turn of the century the society was slightly changing into more liberal and started to identify with the fact of girls engaged in sports. The main focus of the thesis was the Czech university sport which was formed by women in the 20th century as well. I found rich archival sources for female figure skating, especially for Mr. and Mrs. Veselí who became a famous figure skating pair in the 20s of 20th century.
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History of the Catholic Church in Usti nad Orlici 1948-1963 and the Decane Vaclav Bostik in his Struggle with the Communst Regime
Sklenář, Michal ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Cuhra, Jaroslav (referee)
8 Abstract The thesis follows history of the Roman Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia in the 50's of the 20th century. It aims for a micro-historical approach to the problematics. The example of Václav Boštík, dean in Ústí nad Orlicí in years 1934 - 1942 and again in 1945 - 1961, captures both everyday life of the Church in the Stalin and Post-Stalin Era of the Czechoslovakian history and the strategies for survival in this very difficult time of the Church. The work analyzes situations, in which dean Boštík found himself in the 50's, and the decisions he chose or was made to choose. According to what measures he decided? When was he ready for compromise with the Communist Party and, on the contrary, when he stood firm on his opinions? How did his attitudes influenced the life of his parish? When was a conflict between parishioners and the Communist Party unavoidable and, on the other hand, when interests happened to concourse and a mutual coexistence was possible? Why did not revocation of dean Boštík come until 1961? Key words 20th century, History of Communism, Roman Catholic Church, Ústí nad Orlicí, Václav Boštík (1897 - 1963)
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