Socialist Luxury on a Fork / Haute Cuisine in Czechoslovakia, 1948–1969

Martin Franc

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):619-647 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2021.049  

The study deals with top gastronomy in Czechoslovakia from the establishment of the communist regime in 1948 to the end of the 1960s. I first recall the local tradition of haute cuisine in the interwar era when Czechoslovakia was clearly on the periphery of the gastronomic map of Europe and was trying to adapt the inspirations from more advanced centres. This effort, however, was seriously undermined by the Second World War and by the communist takeover soon afterwards. If in 1945, after all the post-war difficulties, it was still possible to hope for a positive turnaround, the consequences of the changes in 1948 were absolutely devastating, making...

“Tripe Soup for All Women!” / Transgression of Gender Boundaries as Part of Female Identity in Communist and Contemporary Bulgaria

Albena Shkodrova

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):648-675 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2021.050  

There is growing interest into how cultural frameworks produce stereotypes of "masculine" and "feminine" foods. The patterns and dynamics of this process have been discussed mainly from a socio-cultural perspective, but the research thus far has failed to create a conceptual framework to explain both the persistence in the association of some foods with a specific gender and shifts in others. Based on a case study of attitudes in communist and post-communist Bulgaria towards tripe-soup - a dish with great potential to be perceived as manly - this article suggests that it is useful to consider food gendering as composed of several levels of codification....

Anglo-Czech Relations and the Munich Crisis

Peter Neville

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):676-705 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2021.033  

The focus of the article is the poor quality of British diplomats in Prague between 1919 and 1939. The article shows this to be a result of a cult of ignorance in the British Diplomatic Service. The Sudetenland German aristocracy was much preferred to Czechs and Slovaks, something which was clearly evident during Lord Runciman's mediation process in 1938. The inability of diplomats like Basil Newton to profit from periods of service in Berlin, where the true nature of Nazism should have been clear, was evident. The article does also show however, that the Czechoslovak government did not always act to its best advantage. Remarks by President Tomáš Masaryk...

From Democrats to Liberals / The Ambiguous Origins of Liberals and Civil Society in Slovakia after 1989

Matej Ivančík

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):706-724 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2021.052  

This paper critically examines the process of politicization of the Slovak democratic protagonists gathered in and around the civic movement Public Against Violence (Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN), from the 1989 democratic revolution to the 1992 elections. By politicization I mean the process through which the examined subjects underwent a transformation from a democratic movement to a liberal-democratic political party. I focus on particular protagonists within VPN as well as on their interactions with other political subjects. For this purpose, I employ two methodological approaches. The first is borrowed from Robert Brier’s reading of Skinnerian...

The Myth of Defending the Homeland / Combat Preparation in Conscripts’ Reflections of Compulsory Military Service (1968–2004)

Jiří Hlaváček

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):725-747 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2021.051  

The article focuses on conscripts' reflections of compulsory military service in the Czechoslovak and Czech army in 1968-2004, as experienced by different generations. I pay attention mainly to the narrative representation of certain aspects of the meaning of compulsory military service, namely the conscripts' preparedness for the defence of their country and actual deployment in combat. This is done through an analysis and interpretation of oral history interviews. On a practical level, I explore reflections of military exercises, the relation of contemporary witnesses to weapons and their potential use, evaluation of combat vehicles and effectiveness...

The Many Faces of European Parliamentary Cultures / Revisiting the Latest Research

Adéla Gjuričová

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):751-759  

The review article discusses several publications dealing with various aspects of parliamentary history in 20^th century Europe. It argues that although the books deal with very different topics and have been created at research institutions with varied backgrounds, they share the approach of studying parliamentary cultures. This perspective has the capacity to include rhetorical, procedural, social, gender, visual and other characteristics in the analysis and as such represents a rare opportunity to make political history research highly relevant, sensitive and interdisciplinary.

Beyond Economic Growth in Postwar East-Central Europe?

Martin Babička

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):760-765  

The book Austerities and Aspirations: A Comparative History of Growth: Consumption, and Quality of Life in East Central Europe Since 1945 (Budapest, Central European University Press 2020), written by the Hungarian historian Béla Tomka, provides a "triple approach" to economic development in East-Central Europe (Poland, Czechoslovakia and its successor states, and Hungary). Aiming to go beyond the perspective of economic growth alone, Tomka considers economic growth along with consumption and quality of life. Taking a comparative perspective, he assesses convergences and divergences between East-Central Europe and Western Europe. In the reviewer's...

Social History of State Security in Postwar Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany

Marián Lóži

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):766-770  

In Security Empire: The Secret Police in Communist Eastern Europe (New Haven - London, Yale University Press 2020), historian Molly Pucci approaches the difficult topic of the State Securities in Stalinist Eastern Europe. She examines the formation and development of the security forces during the crucial years of 1945-1953 in three countries: Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. This allows for comparative findings on both the personnel and the functioning of the respective institutions in these countries. In the reviewer's opinion, Pucci offers a highly descriptive, informative analysis, providing a deeper understanding of the State Securities...

The Quest for Freedom Under the Starry Sky

Zdeněk R. Nešpor

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):771-775  

The review deals with an extensive book on the history of a quintessentially Czech leisure activity, the "tramping movement". The movement emerged in the early 20^th century and its popularity lasted throughout the whole of the century. In the book under review, five cultural historians describe the history of the tramping movement in Czechoslovakia in admirable detail and also provide supplementary material and unique pictures. The reviewer welcomes the analysis of a highly interesting and academically overlooked phenomenon and recommends a shortened version for publication in English.

Childhood and Youth in Socialist Czechoslovakia

Veronika Knotková

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):776-786  

The ten-member team of authors, under the lead of Jiří Knapík and Martin Franc, in their collective volume entitled Mezi pionýrským šátkem a mopedem: Děti, mládež a socialismus v českých zemích 1948-1970 [Between a Pioneer Scarf and a Moped: Children, Youth and Socialism in the Czech Lands in 1948-1970] (Praha, Academia 2018) deals fairly successfully with the task of sketching a comprehensive picture of childhood and growing up in the Czech lands in the period between the communist coup and the beginning of the normalization era in Czechoslovakia. In the chapters thematically focused on the perspectives of state, party and parents as authorities,...

Journalists as Communism's Fellow Travellers? / A New Look at the International Organization of Journalists

Mikuláš Pešta

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):787-790  

The author of the book under review here is at the same time an important actor in the history presented. This presents an opportunity to assess not only the role of this "Communist front organization" in the Cold War and the authenticity of representation of journalists' interests, but also generally the role of non-communists in such organizations. In the reviewer's opinion, the book often reads more as a chronicle rather than as a historical analysis, but given the lack of other syntheses, it serves its purpose as an introduction to the history of the IOJ.

Transforming Worlds of Work / Post-1989 Privatization in Poland through the Eyes of Factory Workers

Veronika Pehe

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):791-797  

The subject of this review is the monograph Cięcia: Mówiona historia transformacji [Cuts: An Oral History of the Transformation] by Aleksandra Leyk and Joanna Wawrzyniak. The book is the output of a larger project conducted at the University of Warsaw between 2010 and 2018. The project gathered the life stories of workers of initially socialist enterprises in Poland, which were then privatized through foreign direct investment in the 1990s. The review argues that although the volume lacks a comprehensive analytical and interpretive framework, the highly readable oral histories that form the core of the book are an invaluable historical source in themselves....

A Conference Commemorating 100 Years Since the Founding of the KSČ

Lucie Marková

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):801-803  

From Where and to Where? / New Impulses at the 7^th COHA International Conference on Oral History in Times of Crisis

Přemysl Vacek

Soudobé dějiny 2021, 28(3):804-809