Anatomy of the End of Charter 77 (1990-1992) / Between Politics, Morality, Business and Coming to Terms with the Past

Anatomie konce Charty 77 (1990–1992) / Mezi politikou, morálkou, byznysem a účtováním s minulostí

Jiří Suk

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):673-717 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.050  

The public appearance of Charter 77 (Charta 77) as the most significant independent civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia in January 1977 represents a pivotal moment in the heroicizing narrative of the struggle for freedom and democracy in the Czech lands. However, its activities after the fall of the old regime receded under democratic conditions into the background and were overshadowed by the dynamic events of that era. Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of the post-1989 political and cultural elite originated from the Charter milieu, and a number of Charter activists in prominent positions played a significant role in shaping the country's...

The Voice of Tradition / Catholic Women’s Unity and the Promotion of Anti-Modernism in Slovakia, 1920–1948

Hlas tradície / Katolícka jednota žien a podpora antimodernizmu na Slovensku v rokoch 1920–1948

Gabriela Pošteková

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):718-748 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.052  

The study analyzes the development of anti-modernism in Slovakia in the first half of the twentieth century, focusing on the women's organization Catholic ­Women's Unity (Katolícka jednota žien), founded in 1920. The organization was closely associated with the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana, HSĽS), which sought to preserve traditional Christian values in Slovak society. Through a linguistic analysis of articles published in the magazine Katolícka jednota [Catholic Unity], the author shows how the organization promoted women's public engagement, especially in relation to maternal roles that went beyond the traditional...

“We Are Not Flying Angels, Who – without Any Material Needs – Can Satisfy the Soul” / Conflicts, Negotiating and Making Demands by Members of the City and District Committees of the Slovak Union of Gypsies-Roma in Košice, 1969–1973

„Nejsme létající andělé, kteří mohou – bez jakýchkoli materiálních potřeb – uspokojit duši“ / Konflikty, vyjednávání a požadavky členů městského a okresního výboru slovenského Zväzu Cigánov-Rómov v Košicích v letech 1969–1973

Monika Stachová

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):749-784 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.051  

The article deals with the issue of local and district Romani politics and negotiation strategies in the Union of Gypsies-Roma in Slovakia (Zväz Cigánov-Rómov na Slovensku) in the years 1969-1973. Using the example of the City and District Committees of the Union in Košice, the centre of eastern Slovakia, and the background of the clashes between centralism and regionalism, the author attempts to outline the wide range of voices and opinions that were voiced among the members of the Union, placing its functioning and activities in the broader context of the political events of the period. In doing so, she identifies the so-called normalization discourse,...

On Asymmetries of Scholarship and the Subalternity of Scholars from East-Central Europe / The Case of Philip Muehlenbeck’s Czechoslovakia in Africa

O asymetriích vědeckého bádání a podřízeném postavení vědců ze středovýchodní Evropy / Případ knihy Philipa Muehlenbecka Czechoslovakia in Africa

Mikuláš Pešta

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):787-794 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.002  

The essay explores the complexities of academic asymmetries, focusing on the subaltern status of East Central European scholars within global historiography. The author examines the case of Philip Muehlenbeck's 2016 publication Czechoslovakia in Africa, 1945-1968, which aimed to shed light on the under-researched Czechoslovak-African relations during the Cold War. Although Muehlenbeck's work was timely and well received for its application of junior actor theory, the author is highly critical of his research practices. He shows how Muehlenbeck relied heavily on, and closely mirrored, the earlier work of Czech historians Petr Zídek and Karel...

Three Voices on One Book / Contrasts – Contexts – Confrontations

Třikrát o jedné knize / Kontrasty – Kontexty – Konfrontace

Václav Rameš, Matej Ivančík and Jóhann Páll Árnason

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):795-796  

V rubrice „Třikrát o jedné knize“ se Václav Rameš, Matej Ivančík a Jóhann Páll Árnason věnují knize esejů o postkomunistických proměnách a neoliberální hegemonii z pera německo-rakouského historika Philippa Thera, které vyšly v anglickém překladu pod názvem How the West Lost the Peace: The Great Transformation Since Cold War (Cambridge (UK) – Hoboken (NJ), Polity Press 2023) a česky jako Jiný konec dějin: Eseje o velké transformaci po roce 1989 (Praha, Karolinum 2022). Therovy eseje, původně vydané německy s titulem Das andere Ende der Geschichte: Über die Große Transformation (Berlin, Suhrkamp 2019), představují...

Post-Communist Transformation under the Pendulum of Big History

Václav Rameš

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):797-804 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.008  

A Post-Socialist Revision of Neoliberal Hegemony

Matej Ivančík

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):805-814 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.037  

Neoliberalism and Geopolitics

Jóhann Páll Árnason

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):815-831 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.049  

Russo-Ukrainian War / Roots, Causes and “Missed Opportunities”

Petr Luňák

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):835-850 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.053  

GALEOTTI, Mark: Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine. Oxford, Osprey 2022, 374 pages, ISBN 978-1-4728-6445-1; MATTHEWS, Owen: Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine. London – Dublin, HarperCollins 2022, 414 pages, ISBN 978-0-00-856274-8; PLOKHY, Serhii: The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. 2023, 376 pages, ISBN 978-1-324-07892-0; SAKWA, Richard: Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands. London – New York, I. B. Tauris 2015, 286 pages, ISBN 978-1-350-34081-7; TROFIMOV, Yaroslav: Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence....

Portents of the Holocaust / A Multi-Genre Mosaic on the Sources of Central European Anti-Semitism and the Refugee Crisis of 1938–1939

Markéta Doležalová

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):851-856 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.017  

FRANKL, Michal: Občané země nikoho: Uprchlíci a pohyblivé hranice středovýchodní Evropy 1938–1939. (Židé – dějiny – paměť, Vol. 8.) Praha, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny 2023, 294 pages, ISBN 978-80-7422-924-4.

Anatomy of a Socialist Mega-event / World Youth Festivals as a Product of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy

Mikuláš Pešta

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):857-861 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.038  

KOIVUNEN, Pia: Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festivals and Soviet Cultural Diplomacy. Berlin, De Gruyter 2022, 303 pages, ISBN 978-3-11-075844-3.

There and Back Again / Czech-American Transnational Literary Culture in the Cold War and Beyond

Františka Schormová

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):862-867 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.019  

GOODMAN, Brian K.: The Nonconformists: American and Czech Writers Across the Iron Curtain. Cambridge (Mass.) – London, Harvard University Press 2023, 368 pages, ISBN 978-0-674-98337-3.

In Defense of a Common Goal / Connecting the History of Czechoslovak Left Exile Groups

Daniela Spenser

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):868-875 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.001  

ANDĚLOVÁ, Kristina – SUK, Jiří – ZAHRADNÍČEK, Tomáš: Pro nás dějiny nekončí: Politická práce a myšlení českého levicového exilu (1968–1989). Praha, Argo – Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., 2023, 354 pages, ISBN 978-80-257-4229-7.

Two Similar Books on Czechoslovak Normalization

Václav Kaška

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):876-888 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.003  

McDERMOTT, Kevin – STIBBE, Matthew (eds.): Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation, 1969–1989. Cham (Switzerland), Palgrave Macmillan 2022, xix + 345 pages, ISBN 978-3-030-98270-6; BRENNER, Christiane – PULLMANN, Michal – TIPPNER, Anja (eds.): After Utopia: Czechoslovak Normalisation between Experiment and Experience, 1968–1989. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of Collegium Carolinum, Pelham, 8–11 November 2018. (Bad Wiesseer Tagungen des Collegium Carolinum, Vol. 41.) Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2022, vi + 403 pages, ISBN 978-3-525-33614-4.

Tug-of-War of the Powerful / A Useful Addition to Research on State-Socialist Censorship, although in Want of a Theoretical Synthesis

Libora Oates-Indruchová

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):889-895 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.041  

ANDREAS, Petr – ŠTEFEK, Martin (eds.): Optimální cenzurou bude kádrová politika: Tisková politika v období tzv. normalizace 1968–1989. Praha, Academia 2023, 511 pages, ISBN 978-80-200-3461-8.

Czech Art History / Science in Quiet Seclusion, (Finally) Removing Its Velvet Gloves

Marcela Rusinko

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):896-904 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.055  

BARTLOVÁ, Milena: Dějiny českých dějin umění 1945–1969: Dějiny umění slouží vědě o člověku. Praha, Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová 2020, 549 pages, ISBN 978-80-88308-11-9.

Central European Variations on the Same Theme / A Problematic Contribution to the Narrowly Political Dimension of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Central Europe

Přemysl Houda

Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2024, 31(3):905-908 | DOI: 10.51134/sod.2024.042  

HAYS II, George – HAYDEN, Joshua M. – POLIŠENSKÁ, Milada (eds.): Leadership in the Time of Covid: Pandemic Responses in Central Europe. Budapest, Central European University Press 2023, 214 pages, ISBN 978-963-386-645-0.