The work studies a very specific period of the Czech-Cuban relations: the period of World War II and the Czechoslovakian refugees in Havana. For its creation, materials from two archives were used: the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the so-called "London Archive" which keeps the documentation of the Czechoslovak government in exile, and the National Archive of Cuba. In the first half of the 20th century, Cuba was not for the Czech society a distant country on the other side of the world. It was its partner and competitor on the world sugar market, and the echoes of Cuban independence were still fresh in its memory. The young Czechoslovak republic was looking for markets for its industrial and consumer products, while Cuban exports generally did not exceed a few dozen tons of unroasted coffee. In the inter-war period, some 20 Czechs and Slovaks were living in Cuba. The Munich Treaty, the occupation and then the application of the Nuremberg Laws created an atmosphere of suffocation and drastically reduced the living space for the Jewish population in the occupied territory of Czechoslovakia. Many decided to leave their homeland, but the world around them was unwilling to receive larger numbers of Jewish refugees. The original idea of getting to a safe place beyond...

Diploma thesis "Media and their management in the region of Pilsen 1945 - 1955" deals with media management in the Pilsen region within historical context of the first decade after the Second World War. It starts with restitution of press in May 1945 and foundation of the radio station in Pilsen. It observes restitution of the journalist organization in Pilsen, including post-war purge of journalists. Further, it describes growing influence of the communist party on media management in the Pilsen region until February 1948 when the communist party definitively gained political power in Czechoslovakia. After the so-called Victorious February, the thesis deals with another wave of purge among journalists in the Pilsen organization and abortion of non-communist press. It introduces the process of nationalization of the printing industry and new goals for journalists and media defined by the communist party. Finally, it describes the first half of the 1950s when other press restrictions and reorganizations of the printing industry in the Pilsen region took place. It presents foundation of a censorship office, the Main Board for Publishing Control (HSTD), within the management of press and radio in the Pilsen region. The thesis is a historical study which tries to approach a less documented period of...

Dès la signature de l’armistice, près de 70% des officiers généraux de marine de première section se retrouvent non seulement à des postes emblématiques de l’Etat français, mais aussi à des postes plus secondaires. Quelque soit la nature des ces fonctions, elles leur permettent, dans la plupart des cas, de se faire les hérauts de l’Etat français. Entrés en politique dès juin 1940 au gré des événements militaires, ces hommes présentent une cohérence sociale et professionnelle forte qui, à elle seule, ne suffit pourtant pas à expliciter ce ralliement massif au maréchal Pétain. Leur culture professionnelle et politique reste un élément majeur pour rendre compte de la rencontre idéologique entre ce corps et la Révolution nationale. Persuadés de la supériorité de leur modèle moral et culturel, ils voient dans ce régime, né des décombres de la Troisième République, l’opportunité de faire triompher leurs valeurs. L’obéissance militaire n’apparaît alors que comme un facteur certes réel mais secondaire pour expliciter ce ralliement. Chez l’amiral Darlan, en revanche, il semble bien que l’accession au pouvoir résulte d’un processus pensé et mûri dès mai 1940 et qui se poursuit pendant les six premiers mois de régime. Favorables à une gestion autoritaire du pouvoir, les amiraux portent les mesures d’exclusion et de retour à la tradition en fonction de leurs propres valeurs et des fonctions qu’ils exercent. Leurs pratiques politiques, directement héritées des méthodologies en vigueur dans la Marine, leurs entourages immédiats issus eux aussi de la Royale, contribuent avec la nature des actions qu’ils mettent en place, à alimenter leur réputation de mauvais politiques. L’épuration judiciaire et professionnelle sanctionne quelques uns d’entre eux, mais les procédures, prises sur la durée, d’amnistie et d’annulation par le conseil d’Etat des sanctions administratives permettent de tempérer les déclarations d’épuration rigoureuse. Un dictionnaire complète cette approche collective : il permet ainsi de suivre les itinéraires professionnels de chacun des quarante-neuf officiers généraux de marine étudiés, de rendre compte de leur rôle entre 1940 et 1944 et d’évoquer leur situation dans l’après guerre. / As soon as the Armistice was signed, nearly 70% of general officers in the Navy found themselves not only in emblematic positions of the French State but also in secondary ones. Whatever the nature of these positions, they enabled them, in most cases, to be the messengers of the French State. Joining politics as early as June 1940, according to how military events happened, these men have a strong social and professional coherence which cannot explain, by itself, this huge rallying to marechal Petain. Their professional and political culture remains a key element in explaining the ideological meeting of this branch with the national Revolution. Convinced of the superiority of their moral and cultural model, they consider this regime, born on the ashes of the third Republic, as an opportunity to make their values prevail. Military obedience then appears as a real, although secondary factor to explain their rallying.As far as Admiral Darlan is concerned, though, this access to power, on the contrary, appears as deeply and carefully thought as soon as 1940 and goes on for the first six months of the regime. These admirals, who believe in an authoritarian management of power, hold the measures of exclusion and of return to the Tradition depending on their own values and on the positions they hold. Their political observance, directly inherited from the methods used in the Navy, as well as their immediate circles, also connected with the « Royale », contributes to their bad reputation as politicians too, because of the nature of their actions. Judicial and professional purge sometimes condemns some of them but the procedures of amnesty and invalidation taken by the Council of State concerning administrative sanctions permit to temper the declarations of strict purge. A dictionary completes this collective approach : it enables one to follow the professional route of each of these 49 general officers, to explain their role between 1940 and 1944 as well as to evoke their position after the war.

The United States engagement in Vietnam began during the Second World War. With military bases established in China, the U.S. took part in fighting the Japanese troops in the Pacific theatre. When France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940, Japan would take over the French Indochina and the war would spread to Vietnam as well. In order to collect intelligence on Japanese targets, the Americans needed to operate secret services on the ground. After the Japanese coup de main in 1945, they would eventually partner with Ho Chi Minh and his organization Viet Minh. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the wartime predecessor of the CIA, provided intelligence training and equipment, while the Viet Minh would assist with valuable information on Japanese troops. To some extent, the OSS helped Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh accede to power in Vietnam after the war.

This thesis examines the legal case of Inouye Kanao, a second-generation Japanese Canadian who was executed for high treason in August 1947 in Hong Kong. In this thesis, I trace not only Inouye's legal case, but also his early life, the broader political context, diplomatic correspondence, and other war crimes cases. By employing race-thinking and Critical Race Theory as theoretical frameworks, I consider the role of race and racism and aim to better understand its influence on Inouye's legal case. In doing so, this thesis challenges previous narratives and misinformation about Inouye. I conclude that racism was a significant factor that affected all aspects of Inouye's case, resulting in an unjust execution that did not reflect the crimes. Ultimately, Inouye was executed not because of his actions but because he was racialized as a treacherous and cruel Japanese Canadian. / Graduate

Ce mémoire consiste à étudier l’apport de la culture jeunesse dans l’acceptation des valeurs nationales-socialistes par les jeunes Allemand(e)s, via la problématique suivante: Comment la culture jeunesse a-t-elle agi à titre de véhicule de propagande sous le Troisième Reich et quels en ont été les répercussions sur la jeunesse allemande? En abordant cette éducation informelle diffusée par la culture jeunesse, c’est-à-dire par la littérature jeunesse, puis par les jouets et les jeux de société, cette recherche offre une définition renouvelée des mécanismes de propagande déployés par le régime nazi et propose une conception nouvelle du phénomène d’endoctrinement de la jeunesse durant cette période. En diffusant des idées comme la quête de la race pure, la conquête, l’antisémitisme à travers une expérience émotionnelle immersive (par l’exercice du jeu et de la lecture), la culture jeunesse est parvenue à susciter l’enthousiasme des jeunes Allemand(e)s à l’idée d’incarner les acteurs d’un monde régi par le nazisme. De plus, nous constaterons que le caractère divertissant de cette propagande culturelle a fait de la violence et de l’exclusion, intrinsèques à la vision nationale-socialiste du monde, des euphémismes, par sa capacité à banaliser la gravité de ces derniers. Ce phénomène nous permet de saisir pourquoi les Allemand(e)s persistaient, même après la guerre, à concevoir leur enfance sous le régime nazi comme une expérience relativement positive. L’aspect culturel de l’endoctrinement de la jeunesse allemande constitue une dynamique encore peu connue de l’histoire allemande que nous proposons d’explorer à travers ce mémoire. / This thesis studies how culture propagated by the Nazi regime during the Second World War influenced young Germans and contributed to their acceptance of National Socialist values. It asks: How did youth culture act as a vehicle of propaganda under the Third Reich and what impact did it have on German youth? By focusing on the hitherto under researched areas of children’s literature, toys and games, my research helps us to better understand the nature of Nazi propaganda, in particular the importance of informal education. Through play and reading young Germans were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology about the quest for a so-called pure race, conquest and expansion in East and West Europe, and anti-Semitism. These cultural activities led to an immersive emotional experience for young Germans which aroused their enthusiasm for contributing to and benefiting from a world ruled by Nazism. The entertaining nature of this cultural propaganda turned the violence and exclusion intrinsic to the National Socialist vision of the world into euphemisms, by trivializing their seriousness. This phenomenon helps us to understand why, even after the war, Germans persisted in seeing their youth under the Nazi regime as a relatively positive experience. The cultural aspect of the indoctrination of German youth is an underexplored dynamic of German history that I explore in this thesis.

Starting in August 1942 the United States and United Kingdom started waging a strategic bombing offensive against Germany. Throughout the course of the 1942 and 1943 campaigns, American and British air forces struggled to gain the upper hand in the European air war. By November 1943 American and British defeats at the hands of the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, had placed the air war in doubt. By February 1944, the air war had turned around in favor of the Allies. This dramatic turn of events has been explained by historians in a number of ways. The most popular narrative is that the introduction of the long range escort fighter, the P-51 "Mustang," turned the tide in the air war. Another narrative is that there was a change in the fighter tactics. Starting in January 1944, American fighters stopped defending the bombers and started aggressively pursuing German fighters. Yet, these analyses do not include a major command changes that took place from November to January 1944. After his appointment to command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower used his position centralize all of the major air commands in Europe under his control. By unifying the air commands, the Allies were able to better coordinate and concentrate their air against Germany. In February 1944 the Allies focused their air forces against the Luftwaffe ultimately wearing down German fighter strength. After finally removing a major obstacle impending the strategic air war against Germany, the Allies concentrated their air forces against transportation and oil targets. The destruction of these two major economic systems crippled Germany's ability to fight the Allies in 1944 and 1945. By changing the command structure, Eisenhower was able to use his air forces in successful coordinated strategic air offensives that the Allies had previously been incapable of accomplishing.

No description available.

Ce mémoire se penche sur l’absurde dans les oeuvres de deux mangakas de l’après Deuxième Guerre mondiale, soit Tsuge Yoshiharu（つげ義春） et Sasaki Maki（佐々木マキ）. Cette étude comparative approche l’absurde comme expérience et tente de penser l’écho que le concept a pu ou non avoir chez les auteurs en question. Pour ce faire, une exploration de divers courants underground des années 50 et 60 au Japon (culture kasutori, nouvelle vague japonaise et avant-garde) est menée afin de retracer comment ceux-ci auraient éventuellement influencés les oeuvres des auteurs analysées, elles-mêmes s’inscrivant dans la culture manga underground de l’époque. Cette section sert également de point d’appui afin de réfléchir sur la place que l’absurde aurait pu prendre au sein de la société japonaise, voyant ses fondements basculer à l’aube de la défaite et contrainte à coopérer sous tutelle américaine. C’est dans cette optique que nous proposons une lecture de l’oeuvre culte de Tsuge Yoshiharu, Nejishiki (ねじ式) comme exprimant une nostalgie propre à une « sensibilité absurde », telle que théorisée par Camus, via le motif de la réparation du corps. Parallèlement à ceci, nous nous attarderons à l’oeuvre de Sasaki Maki au coeur de laquelle le nansensu, compris comme interjection ainsi que référence au courant de l’ero-guro-nansensu, s’érige. À la suite de quoi, nous conclurons sur une comparaison entre les deux expressions de l’absurde chez les mangakas étudiés de manière à dégager, également, ce qui différencie le nansensu de l’absurde. / This text focuses on the artwork of two mangakas of the post Second World War, Tsuge Yoshiharu（つげ義春） and Sasaki Maki（佐々木マキ）. This comparative study investigates the absurd through its experimental component and tries to think the resonance that the concept might have had (or not ) among the authors cited. To this effect, we will explore diverse movements of the 50’s and 60’s in Japan (kasutori culture, Japanese new wave and avant-garde) in order to retrace how they might have eventually influenced the works of the mangakas analysed, themselves being part of an underground culture in the manga community of the time. This section also serves as a starting point for reflecting on the place that the absurd had in the Japanese society of that era, the country being recently defeated and obliged to cooperate under the American occupation which will bring profound changes to the society. It’s in the same vein that we propose a reading of Tsuge Yoshiharu’s masterpiece, Nejishiki (ねじ式), as expressing a nostalgia specific to what Camus calls an « absurd sensibility » through the motive of a body in search of repair. Alternatively, we will analyse Sasaki Maki’s work in the heart of which nansensu, thought as an interjection and in reference to the movement of the ero-guro-nansensu, is present. Finally, we will conclude on a comparison between the two expressions of the absurd in Tsuge and Sasaki’s respective work in order, as well, to elucidate what distinguishes nansensu from the absurd.

Studies on Canadian Army military intelligence remain sparse in Canadian military historiography. This study is unique in that it focuses on the development, doctrine, and influence of intelligence within the I Canadian Corps throughout the Liri Valley battles during the Italian Campaign. It will be argued that I Canadian Corps intelligence achieved notable overall success in helping to break the Hitler Line by providing comprehensive and relatively up-to-date information on enemy dispositions and strengths which helped commanders and staff planners properly prepare for the operation. This success was attributable to three main factors: excellent intelligence personnel selection and training; the successful mentorship of I Canadian Corps intelligence by Eighth Army's intelligence cadre; and the overall effectiveness of 1st Canadian Infantry Division's intelligence organization which had been in the Mediterranean theatre since July 1943. Notwithstanding these successes, a number of faults within the Canadian Corps intelligence system must also be explained, including the poor performance of 5th Canadian Armoured Division's intelligence organization during the pursuit up the Liri–Sacco Valleys, and the mediocre execution of Corps counter-battery and counter-mortar operations. This study will demonstrate how an effective intelligence organization must augment existing army doctrine and how it can mitigate, though not completely eliminate, battlefield uncertainty. Further, it will also demonstrate that a comprehensive lessons-learned process must be undertaken to continually refine existing intelligence doctrine and procedures, with frequent training programs inculcating personnel in this doctrine. Taken as a whole, this study is unique as it is one of only several studies devoted solely to developing a greater understanding of a little-understood, and often forgotten, staff function within the Canadian Army during the Second World War.