This study examines the relationship between sexuality and actorial artistic creation in the autobiographic writings of the German actor Klaus Kinski (1926-1991). Departing from Socrates’ appraisal of Eros in the Platonic dialogue Symposion, the text confronts two classic theories on sexuality and art: Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland’s book on macrobiotics and vital power (Lebenskraft), The Art of Prolonging Human Life, and Sigmund Freud’s texts on sublimation. Plato, Hufeland and Freud have in common that they see art and sexuality, representing spiritual and carnal life, as rivals. Hence, artistic production has to rely on a renunciation of physical love, either through abstinence or transformation of sexual energy into spiritual creative power. The case of Klaus Kinski is particularly important, since his literary works seems to resist sublimation of any kind. While devoting himself to libertinage – which he renders in detail – he still succeeds in creating works of art, as an actor and as a writer. The artistic conditions for Kinski the actor, being an active force in control of theatrical objects and means, in contrast to the passive-receptive actor in Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Notebooks on Malte Laurids Brigge, further adds to this particularity. Kinski’s refusal to recognise a rivalry between love and art has its roots in Constantin Stanislavski’s method of acting, in which the task of the actor is to give life to the role by giving it both spiritual and bodily life, having body and mind working together towards the higher aim of theatrical performance. Yet this paradigm of incarnation, as opposed to inspiration, does not apply exclusively to theatrical and performing arts, where the work of art is constituted by the actor’s body. In a text from 1927 about the rhyme, the Austrian writer Karl Kraus proposes an „erotics of language”, in which the ideal Paarung (coupling or mating) implies both the physical act of reproduction, and sonorous combination of two rhyming words, uniting distant spheres or entities. In this sense, Kinski’s ideal coupling can be understood as a joint venture between mind and body, art and sexuality, theatre and life, enabling him to enjoy a frivolous love life without abandoning artistic creation.

This thesis compares the novels Doktor Faustus: das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde (Thomas Mann) and Mephisto: Roman einer Karriere (Klaus Mann), insofar as they are portrayals of the situation in Germany during the Third Reich. Essentially a comparative study, I explore similarities and differences – thematic and conceptual – by situating both novels in their socio-historical moment (Chapter 1), exploring their conceptions of German national identity (Chapter 2), tracing intertextual connections to other works (Chapter 3), and, finally, examining their understanding of and reliance on art as insofar as it provides the allegorical framework for their respective portrayals of Nazi Germany (Chapter 4).

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse the economic and political development in the United Kingdom under Margaret Thatcher and to judge, to which degree the measures applied by the government of Margaret Thatcher were applicable to the Czech Republic, respectively, to which degree the government of Václav Klaus (1992 -- 1997) was inspired by the British approach and which the practical results of this inspiration were.

This master`s thesis deals with the theories of the far-right party family. The theoretical part consists mainly of textual work and the author introduces theory of the party family and the far-right party family. Next, theories of three different authors are introduced and on their bases the author studies selected political subjects, which are Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti, Svoboda a přímá demokracie of Tomio Okamura, Slovenská národná strana and Kotleba- Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko. The author bases the work on the concepts of far-right parties by these authors: Piero Ignazi, Hans-Georg Betz and Cas Mudde. Furthermore, the dynamic development of far-right parties, is described with focus not only on Europe but more specifically on Czech Republic and Slovakia. The goal of this thesis is to find out if it is possible to categorize various subjects into the far-right party family based on the selected criteria and potentially point out their differences. Mainly analytical and empirical method is used in this thesis. For the analysis of the parties, the author uses political programs, presentation of the subject in the public eye and media, and also their activity on social media.

Petra Šrédlová Diploma thesis Abstract Abstract The trial of Klaus Barbie was an important turning point in the French memory of the Vichy regime. For a purpose of Barbie's conviction, the interpretation of the crime against humanity was changed in the French legal system. Barbie's victims were, for the first time, given the opportunity to publicly testify. Furthermore, the trial provided an opportunity for development of the Jewish memory and the memory of the resistance. The trial of Klaus Barbie provided the basic legal and procedural framework later on used by the courts in trials with Vichy's criminals. Moreover, the personality of Klaus Barbie remained sealed in a negative sense in French memory, when he was often remembered on the occasion of various events. The aim of this diploma thesis is to prove that, on the basis of qualitative content analysis of articles by Le Monde containing the term "Klaus Barbie" in the period from July 3, 1988 to July 4, 2017, further development of the phase of Obsession of the Vichy syndrome can be traced, along with its thematic categories and intensity. This diploma thesis also argues that the memory development did not proceed consistently, but kept on returning in the form of various events in order to recall not only Klaus Barbie and his trial, but also other...

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The Czech Republic has been regarded as a little troublemaker of the EU due to its Eurosceptic stances. This phenomenon was distinct in the 2000s regardless of the state's position, whether it was just an EU candidate or already a member state. Around the time, President Vacláv Klaus and his political party (ODS), as Czech leadership, contributed to promoting the Eurosceptic governments towards the EU. It could be seen as strange that such a trait was revealed both in the midst of preparations to join the EU and after its accession when it is the proper time to present a cooperative attitude. Thus, this thesis speculates that the skeptical national identity of the Czech Republic has been constructed throughout history, particularly about 450 years from the Bohemia Kingdom to Czechoslovakia (1525~1971), and affected then Czech domestic politics to formulate the official Eurosceptic positions towards the several EU integration matters (constitutional, security, and monetary integrations). In this context, this master's thesis aims to find an objective correlation that Czech identity had an influence on then Czech Euroscepticism. This way, this thesis expects to advance knowledge concerning Czech identity and its relevance to European politics.

This thesis is an account of the poet and critic W.H. Auden's relations with Germany and Germans over the course of his life (1907-1973), presented through a selection of influences that have received little critical attention in the corpus of secondary literature to date. While these connections and influences are manifold and sometimes disparate, they can serve as a prism to tell Auden's life-story from a particular, relatively unexplored angle and to illuminate his work. The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One discusses Auden’s engagement with German literature before 1928, his reasons for spending nine months in Weimar Berlin 1928-29, and the formative influence of this experience on his life and work. Chapter Two explores Auden's relationship with his 'in-laws', the famous family of Nobel Prize winning author Thomas Mann, and Auden's choice of an international life-style. Chapter Three discusses various other, later German influences on Auden: his visit to Germany with the US Army and its traces in The Age of Anxiety; issues concerning the German translation of this text; his Ford Foundation residence in isolated West Berlin; and his intellectual friendship with Hannah Arendt. Introduction and Conclusion embed these three specific chapters, deliberating the topic more abstractly. A number of appendices bring together a wide range of unpublished sources – and their translations into English, if the original is composed in German. Translations of all German appendix material can be found in the appendix itself.

Presidents are said to exert their influence mainly through addressing the public and public speaking. Setting the media agenda is considered as one of the presidents' main strategic powers. Although the contemporary Czech president Václav Klaus enjoys substantial media attention, it is not granted that the media report on everything he says and emphasises. This research focuses on the interaction between presidential speeches at important occasions, represented by the 1 January, 28 October, and 17 November address, and the media represented by three nation-wide dailies Mladá fronta DNES, Právo and Blesk. The time span of the research is 2007 to 2011. The analysis seeks to examine how often were the presidential speeches reported by the media, and which particular topics from them generated press coverage. The results show that the media were mostly attracted by the 1 January address, while the 17 November speech received least attention. It has also emerged that the media reporters have been choosing selectively which topics from the speeches to cover. The scope of the space dedicated to each of the topics by the president in his speeches has not been reflected by the journalists. Therefore, significant differences in the topical priorities between the presidential and media agenda were...

Diploma thesis "The Head of State in the constitutional system of the Czech Republic: de iure and de facto" discourses both provisions, which integrate the institution of the president of the republic in constitution, and the virtual implementation of this uppermost authority in the state. At the beginning, the thesis deals with the historical dimension of the issue. It speaks of the general development and history of the office in Czech lands. Hereupon a depiction of the theoretical extent of this office follows. A large verge is devoted to the placement and the powers of the president in the constitution. The pragmatic part of the thesis consists of two case studies. The first one deals with the presidency of Václav Havel. The second one deals with the execution of the office by Václav Klaus. An extra attention is paid to the analysis of the accordance between the theoretical and pragmatic pursuance of the office of president of the Czech Republic.