The purpose of this thesis is to study the conflict in Czechoslovakia in 1968 which developed through different stages of the questioning of Communism since the Communist takeover in 1948. The term "Questioning of Communism" refers to the examination of the basic principles and practices of Communism on which the Communist Party operates. The principles of Communism include such principles as "democratic centralism", the leading role of the Communist Party, the monopoly of power, the "nationality question", centralized planning, political bureaucracy in the society, etc. This study deals with the two areas of conflict: outside the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and inside the party. Outside the party, conflict erupted between the social groups (such as the economists, the Slovaks, the students, the intellectuals and the non-Communist political parties) and the party. Conflict within the party erupted between the conservatives and the liberals and resulted in the change in the leadership in the party in 1968. This thesis concentrates mostly on the causes of conflict and its roots prior to 1968, and on the accommodation of conflict by the Communist Party in 1968. Prior to 1968, conflict was not accommodated by the party. Rather, the participants in conflict were suppressed by the Communist Party. An analysis of conflict in Czechoslovakia in 1968 confirms that Czechoslovakia does not conform to the pattern of violent conflict in Communist states illustrated by the experience of East Germany, Poland and Hungary. A new pattern of accommodation of conflict by the Communist Party introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1968 was due to the liberal democratic policies of the Communist Party leadership under Alexander Dubcek. However, despite the successful domestic policies of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia did not succeed in her democratic experiment because she neglected her foreign policy with the Soviet Union. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

During the 1930s, the Republic of Czechoslovakia endeavored to construct a system of modern fortifications along its frontiers to protect the Republic from German and Hungarian aggression and from external Versailles revisionism. Czechoslovakia's fortifications have been greatly misrepresented through comparison with the Maginot Line. By utilizing extant German military reports, this thesis demonstrates that Czechoslovakia's fortifications were incomplete and were much weaker than the Maginot Line at the time of the Munich Crisis in 1938. The German threat of war against Czechoslovakia was very real in 1938 and Germany would have penetrated most of the fortifications and defeated Czechoslovakia quickly had a German-Czech war occurred in 1938.

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The main goal of my dissertation is to analyze the personality of Engliš, who was an important representative of the scientific and financial elites during the period of the First Republic. I will venture to explain the causes of his rise during the First Republic and aim to characterize his relations with other elites. The term "elite" refers not only to representatives of the political and financial life of the First Republic, but also to the important leaders of its scientific and cultural scenes. In my dissertation I want to address the relationships between the elite of the First Republic and Karel Engliš. Public opinion played an important role in the relations between Engliš and the elite of the First Republic, in particular as Engliš was presented in the media and how the public perceived him. His family was supportive of Karel Engliš but also caused him many problems. I have found the main material for my thesis in the archive of the National Museum (Archiv Národního muzea), the Literary Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature (Literární archiv Památníku národního písemnictví), the archive of Charles University (Archiv Univerzity Karlovy), the archive of Masaryk University in Brno (Archiv Masarykovy univerzity v Brně) and the archive of the National Bank of the Czech Republic (Archiv...

This thesis is devoted to the spa fashion and clothing in Czechoslovakia, particularly in the years 1924 - 1930. On the basis of sources and comparing the findings from the literature is reflected here penchant for spa clothing in the years 1924-1930 in Poděbrady. The entire work is divided into five sections. The first part focuses on the history of spas in Bohemia and in the context of Europe. The second part of the work attends the idea of the 1st Republic ideal of beauty. In the third section deals with the everyday venerable fashion during the given time. The fourth part introduces the readers to the history of the town, emergence of spa. It also deals with some points of interest about this local spa and, of course with spa advertising. The last part reflects the specific spa dress codes in Poděbrady. The work aims to describe local fashion site of this small town. The work also contains annexes, photographs that illustrate contemporary fashion ambience in provincial spa. The main source for the thesis was the fund of the Spa Poděbrady which is deposited at the Museum of the Labe Region. Key words: Fashion, history of spa, Czechoslovakia, period 1924 - 1930, ideal of beaty, photography, importace of fashion, dandy, countryside,

Village Mírová (Mnichov, München in German) is lying in the region rich on mineral raw - Chodová - employment in agriculture. The original name Mnichov/Münchhof itself shows that it was here was Rudolf Müller, politician and member of the supreme diets. National structure of local

The aim of the PhD thesis is to describe the emergence and functioning of the Deutschböhmen and Sudetenland provinces' governments proclaimed by Czech, Moravian and Silesian Germans in the autumn of 1918 and consecutively to compare their practical politics in the selected fields. The emphasize is put especially on the building of the state administration and defence mechanisms, foreign political relations as well as relations with the Czech minority inhabiting the disputed territory. The thesis should contribute to understanding the extent to which the declaration of these provinces was an immediate response to developments in Central Europe, or whether it was the result of long-term trends in Czech-German relations. One of its parts is dedicated to conceptions of a dissolution of the Czech lands, which were created in the years 1848-1918. Conclusion of this thesis is focused on the comparsion of the political activities of the both provincional governments and author tries to answer the question, how much are these policies similar and which governement better reacted to he challenges of the turning points of the autumn 1918.

This thesis deals with the translations beyond official publishers during the era of Communism in Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1989. More particularly, the thesis is focused on mapping Czech translations of German literature published in samisdat during the Communist era and on understanding a sociology of translation in the samisdat production. Taking into account the social changes and cultural politics, the author explores when, by whom, in what circumstances and for what reason were the German texts translated. Furthermore, the aim of this thesis is to determine whether the translation work in samisdat was coordinated, and if so, to find out by whom. Another aim is to find out whether there was a publishing strategy during the samisdat translations. A method of oral history is used in order to interview the contemporary witnesses. Findings based on these interviews are later grouped into a force field using Pierre Bourdieu's sociological model. The conclusion consists of findings about the process of translating German literature to Czech during the samisdat era. These data are then evaluated and analysed from several points of view.

This study analyses the concept of The Environment among Czechoslovak architects and on the field of architectural theory in the 1960s. Environmental problematic was frequent topic across different expert groups since end of the 1950s and especially in the 1960s. Architects was one those groups and they actively further developed this concept of The Environment and environmental problematics during 1960s. This effort had brought interesting theoretical concepts and ideas and was also influenced by general Czechoslovak intellectual milieu of 1960s. Architects also started to critically address the degradation of natural environment due to increasing industrial pollution. They also accomplished several successes on the field of environmental problematics. They managed to establish specialized field of study and played a key role in some international conferences and meetings dealing with environmental problems under UNESCO, OSN or International Union of Architects. This study indicates some of yet not well known intellectual riches of Czechoslovak 1960s and also points that continuous environmental degradation during the reign of communist party was not caused by insufficient expertise and the source for this major problem should be further researched. Key words: Architecture, Environment,...