When Prague was servile to Moscow. A book on history after February 1948 was published
Paseka Publishing House continues the edition of Great History of the Czech Crown Lands, the largest project in Czech historiography. In his newly published book, historian Jiří Pernes focuses on the years 1948 to 1956. He deals with the emergence of exile, the Cold War, the militarization of Czechoslovakia, the war in Korea, political processes or events after the deaths of Stalin and Gottwald.
The 808-page publication explains the main trends, political and power mechanisms as well as changes in the economic, social, cultural or religious spheres, all after the Communists took power over Czechoslovakia in 1948.
“Russia has never backed down from pursuing its superpowered, imperial interests. It does not respect international treaties, even its obligations, it is able to invade sovereign states and commit war crimes. The parallel of today’s situation with what happened in the 1950s is quite clear. , “Says historian Pernes, referring to the current Russian war in Ukraine.
Paseka has been publishing The Great History of the Czech Crown since 1999. They map the period from the beginnings of Czech history to 1945. It is the largest similar book project in Czech historiography, with 15 volumes in 19 volumes numbering over 13,000 pages, 2,819 images and 161 maps.
The last volume describing the years 1792 to 1860 was published eight years ago, when the project won the Magnesia Litera award for publishing. Four volumes will be devoted to the period after 1945, and the sixteenth book about 1945 to 1948 will follow next year.
The one just published deals with what followed February 1948. According to historian Pernes, the most important event in the selected period was the death of the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin in March 1953. “It had an impact on developments in our country. The same was the development in 1956, namely the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a result of the power struggle in the Kremlin, anti-communist revolution in Hungary and events in Poland and their impact on our conditions. , “calculates.
Cover of the Great History of the Czech Crown Countries XVII. (1948-1956). | Photo: Paseka Publishing House
According to him, everyone at the time knew or suspected that communist Czechoslovakia was not an independent state, but a Soviet satellite. “I had that feeling, evoked by everyday reality,” recalls Pernes, 73.
Only the opportunity to travel to Russia after the fall of the communist regime and study in the local archives revealed the situation at the time. “Czechoslovak communist politicians competed over who would more often get to the Soviet embassy to sue and give insider reports of what was happening in our country. “This period is characteristic. And everything else follows from them,” he adds.
Jiří Pernes is a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences. He focuses on the history of the Communist Party and the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, as well as Czech and Moravian history at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, including links to the ruling Habsburg-Lorraine family.
The Russians have found out what millions have led them to do in a hundred years, that people have gone through the gulag, says Russian radiologist and Czech Radio commentator Libor Dvořák. | Video: Martin Veselovský