Auswahl der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zum Thema „Czechoslovak coup d'état“

The Battle of Zborov was the main commemorative site of Czechoslovakia's heroic military cult during the interwar era. The shifting fortunes of its commemoration reveal political attempts to reframe national questions for ideological ends. Zborov was an important symbol, because it was the nexus of the military and diplomatic-political efforts to found the state. The festivities on 2 July provided members of the military with the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess in the name of Zborov and to reassert their role in the creation of Czechoslovakia. The communist coup d'état in February 1948 spelled the end of the Czechoslovak national-military tradition that included Zborov. After 1989, the Battle of Zborov, like other historic events that had been downplayed or ignored under communism, enjoyed renewed interest. The “spirit of Zborov” has not been, however, an important part of a “usable past” in the post-communist Czech Republic or Slovakia, perhaps because it was so intimately associated with the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic.

In February 1948, during the political crisis in Czechoslovakia was established a communist regime. This event completed the formation of the Soviet bloc in Europe. It directly impacted the US containment policy towards the USSR and the escalation of the Cold War. Based on archival documents and newspapers articles, the research studies these events through their perception by American media and diplomats, whose opinions and interpretations had great and decisive importance for the US public opinion and its government official reaction. The author concludes that the Czechoslovak crisis of 1948 aroused considerable interest and severe reaction in the United States. It was considered as a part of growing Soviet-American contradictions and international tension. Despite the fears of a communist coup in Czechoslovakia expressed back in 1947, American experts could not accurately predict the onset time of the crisis and its nature. The rapidity of the crisis, the Communist’s reaction, and decisiveness, lack of direct Soviet intervention, as well as the absence of democratic resistance, became a surprise for American journalists and diplomats. They believed that the communist takeover was a manifestation of Soviet expansion and the Kremlin’s desire to consolidate its control over all Eastern Europe. Despite the external legitimacy, the transfer of power to the left forces was interpreted as a coup d'état that final ized the establishment of the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, the US government refused to sever diplomatic relations with Prague and to initiate an international investigation. Washington found no direct evidence of Soviet intervention. It had to accept the changes in Czechoslovakia, focusing its forces on the inadmissibility of this scenario in Western Europe. The crisis directly influenced the adoption of the Marshall Plan and the intensification of the containment policy.

THE VIOLENCE WHICH MARKED THE OVERTHROW OF Nicolae Ceaugescu's regime at Christmas 1989, and the recurrent disorders, especially in Bucharest, which have punctuated developments over the last nine months, have made Romania's experience of anti-Communist revolution strikingly different from that of its neighbours to the north and to the west. Whatever the political and social tensions emerging in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland (and whatever may be the GDR's legacy to a reunified Germany), it is unlikely that the charge of neo-communism will be central to their political debate. It is precisely that charge levelled against the government party (National Salvation Front/FSN) and against the person of Ion Ilescu by various opposition groups, and former prominent dissidents under Ceaugescu, which remains the most emotive issue in Romanian politics. The question of whether the revolution which overthrew Nicolae Ceauyescu and led to the dissolution of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) was the result of a popular uprising or a coup d'état planned by Party members has haunted Romanian politics through the first nine months of the post-Ceauqescu period.

The dissertation focuses on the microhistorical analysis of the last years of the life of Hugo Vavrečka (1880-1952), technician, journalist, economist, diplomat and sales director of the Baťa company. The theoretical and methodological part elaborates on the epistemological differences between biographical and microhistorical research, after which attention is paid especially to the possibilities of microhistorical research in the field of contemporary history. The methodology of clues (Carlo Ginzburg) and the researcher's own positionality follow, while the sources used are presented. The interpretative part briefly summarizes the basic outlines of Hugo Vavrečka's life before 1944, after which the main research focus is put on his actions from autumn 1944 to his death in August 1952. Thesis analyses Vavrečka's post-war life, his own attitude to the personal and socio- political situation, to its changes, trying to name the approaches and individual motivations or beliefs with which he chose them. Last but not least, the work also focuses on the broader context of his family and friends, as well as on at least partially exposing the steps of his post-war opponents, who largely led him into this uneasy situation.

This diploma thesis is devoted to Václav Majer (January 22, 1904 - January 25, 1972) and his public work, particularly in the period of the Third Republic of Czechoslovakia. Václav Majer was a social democratic politician and he was a leader of the right wing within the Czechoslovak Social Democracy. The main issue which was being discussed inside the Social Democratic Party at that time was the question of cooperation between Social Democrats and Communists. Majer was a main proponent of independent policy of the Social Democratic Party. Sometimes it is hard to analyze the meaning and the course of various political affairs without knowing their roots. In that case, it is necessary to study the background of these events which in many cases lies at the previous period. This is the reason why this very essay actually starts right after the Munich Agreement was negotiated and signed. This thesis informs about Majer's road to exile and his political activities during the World War II. The main interest of this thesis lies in the era of the Third Republic and informs about Majer and his policy during this very period.

The diploma thesis Svobodné slovo 1945-1948: Central Organ of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party deals with a development of the party newspaper Svobodné slovo in the aforementioned period. The author describes all the aspects of the edition of this newspaper as well as related circumstances on the basis of archive sources, press of that time and specialized literature. The thesis focuses on the restoration of Svobodné slovo after the end of the World War II, its subsequent evolution within newly established condition and provides coherent survey not only of the internal functioning of Prague editorial office of Svobodné slovo, but also of the general content orientation of the newspaper in the given period. With reference to the party character of Svobodné slovo, the author writes also on its interconnection and narrow relation with the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. The thesis is completed with a historical context of Czechoslovakia of the second part of 1940's. In this connection, the emphasis is laid namely on parliamentary elections realized in May 1946 and the communist coup d'état occurred in February 1948. Both these events are presented especially from the point of view, which was published in Svobodné slovo including the consequences caused to this newspaper by them. For...