Spartakiads

Spartakiads
Author: Petr Roubal
Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2020-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 8024638517

Every five years from 1955 to 1985, mass Czechoslovak gymnastic demonstrations and sporting parades called Spartakiads were held to mark the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia. Involving hundreds of thousands of male and female performers of all ages and held in the world’s largest stadium—a space built expressly for this purpose—the synchronized and unified movements of the Czech citizenry embodied, quite literally, the idealized Socialist people: a powerful yet pliant force directed by the regime. This book explores the political, social, and aesthetic dimensions of these mass physical demonstrations, with a particular focus on their roots in the völkisch nationalism of the German Turner movement and the Czech Sokol gymnastic tradition. Featuring an abundance of photographs, Spartakiads takes a new approach to Communist history by opening a window onto the mentality and mundanity behind the Iron Curtain.

A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada

A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada
Author: Allan Urbanic
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1135794553

Get access to the Slavic and East European research materials you need A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada presents up-to-date information on 85 North American libraries that house Slavic and East European research materials, providing current details on recent acquisitions, developments in collection policies, and changes in contact information. Using individual entries written by each institution’s librarian or archivist, you’ll save valuable time and effort in your search for resources on Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, the former Yugoslavia, the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, Romania, and the Sorbs in Germany. This unique book includes facts and figures on special collections, finding aids, catalogs, Web access, and bibliographies for further readings. A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada examines collections available at public libraries, governmental libraries, special collections, and university libraries. Edited by Dr. Allan Urbanic, Librarian for Slavic and East European Collections at the University of California, Berkeley, and Slavic Collection Manager at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Beth Feinberg, Slavic Catalog Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, the book lists current and retrospective materials collected in print, microform, and electronic formats, and includes monographs, serial publications, reference works, dissertations, and conference proceedings. Entries for A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada include: access policy for visits general collection description special collection description online catalog archive collections size of collection percent of collection in vernacular language electronic resources and much more! A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada is an essential, time-saving resource for librarians and academics looking for research materials.

The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation

The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation
Author: Bradley F. Abrams
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780742530249

The material effects of World War II, in combination with Eastern Europe's disappointingly undemocratic interwar history, placed radical social change on the postwar agenda across the region and shaped the debates that took place in immediate postwar Czech society. These debates adopted both a cultural form, in struggles over the meaning of the recent past and the nation's position on the East-West continuum, and a directly political form, in battles over the meaning of socialism. The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation examines the most important and politically resonant fields of historical and cultural debate in Czech society immediately after World War II. Bradley Abrams finds that communist public figures were largely successful in controlling debate over the nation's recent past--the interwar First Republic and the experiences of Munich and World War II--and over its location on the East-West continuum. This success preceded and was mirrored in the struggles over the political issue of the times: socialism. The communists engaged their political foes in the democratic socialist and Roman Catholic camps, and, surprisingly, found significant support from a major Protestant church. Abrams's careful reading of major publications re-creates a postwar mood sympathetic to radical social change, questioning the standard view of the communists' rise to power. This book not only contributes to the specific literature on Czech history, but also raises questions about the relationship between war and radical social change, about the communist takeover of the region, and about the role of intellectuals in public life.

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia
Author: Mary Heimann
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Czechoslovakia
ISBN: 9780300141474

A revisionist history, this volume sets out to debunk many of the myths about Czechoslovakia.

Exile in London

Exile in London
Author: Vít Smetana
Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 8024637014

During World War II, London experienced not just the Blitz and the arrival of continental refugees, but also an influx of displaced foreign governments. Drawing together renowned historians from nine countries—the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—this book explores life in exile as experienced by the governments of Czechoslovakia and other occupied nations who found refuge in the British capital. Through new archival research and fresh historical interpretations, chapters delve into common characteristics and differences in the origin and structure of the individual governments-in-exile in an attempt to explain how they dealt with pressing social and economic problems at home while abroad; how they were able to influence crucial allied diplomatic negotiations; the relative importance of armies, strategic commodities, and equipment that particular governments-in-exile were able to offer to the Allied war effort; important wartime propaganda; and early preparations for addressing postwar minority issues.

Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity

Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity
Author: Kimberly Elman Zarecor
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2011-04-10
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 082297780X

Eastern European prefabricated housing blocks are often vilified as the visible manifestations of everything that was wrong with state socialism. For many inside and outside the region, the uniformity of these buildings became symbols of the dullness and drudgery of everyday life. Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity complicates this common perception. Analyzing the cultural, intellectual, and professional debates surrounding the construction of mass housing in early postwar Czechoslovakia, Zarecor shows that these housing blocks served an essential function in the planned economy and reflected an interwar aesthetic, derived from constructivism and functionalism, that carried forward into the 1950s. With a focus on prefabricated and standardized housing built from 1945 to 1960, Zarecor offers broad and innovative insights into the country's transition from capitalism to state socialism. She demonstrates that during this shift, architects and engineers consistently strove to meet the needs of Czechs and Slovaks despite challenging economic conditions, a lack of material resources, and manufacturing and technological limitations. In the process, architects were asked to put aside their individual creative aspirations and transform themselves into technicians and industrial producers. Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity is the first comprehensive history of architectural practice and the emergence of prefabricated housing in the Eastern Bloc. Through discussions of individual architects and projects, as well as building typologies, professional associations, and institutional organization, it opens a rare window into the cultural and economic life of Eastern Europe during the early postwar period.