The goal of this work is to record and reflect private memories of modern Czech war veterans from the Afghanistan mission as well as to write an integrated text about a topic which has not been interpreted yet. The core of the matter is focused on situations which happened in Afghanistan, what the narrators experienced, faced or felt and what they cope with. I am dealing with these topics: preparation for mission, choice of people, leave-taking, the first moments in mission, war essence, enemy image, interpersonal relations, intimate life, financial estimation, mascots and comeback. I tried to catch their unusually common lives of army professionals and their operations in an abroad mission (lapped from leaving till returning life phase). The primary source of the diploma work is based on interviews lead by a method of oral history with modern Czech war veterans from mission in Afghanistan. The text also props upon available memoir literature of fact, study, researches, magazines, diary, Internet articles and filmography. During the reflection of mission memories of Afghanistan, the observed plane is as historical - political as military. The main benefit of this work is setting the imaginary bases for the further similarly oriented researches in the area of new age military historiography and...

No single volume of mythological or philological research exists for Hades. In the one moment Hades appears in archaic Greek literature, speaking for only ten lines, Hermes stands nearby. Thus, to understand and journey to Hades is to reckon with Hermes’ close presence. As I synthesize research by writers from several different disciplines, may some light be brought into the depths. May we analyze Hades’ brief appearance in archaic Greek literature, examining how what I define as the “Hermetic” emits from his breath in the one moment he physically appears and speaks.

The diploma thesis focuses on the perception of the personality of Jan Palach by the inhabitants of the town of Všetaty. People of different generations, gender and education who shared his place of birth or residence with him. The whole study is based on a thorough heuristic work, which helped to draw the historical context. However, the emphasis is put mainly on the subjective statements of the addressed narrators, processed by years of proven methodological procedures of oral history. The focus is given to ordinary people who do not have direct family or friendly ties to Jan Palach. And because he himself wanted to snatch just such an ordinary Czechoslovak citizen from post-occupation lethargy, the study focuses on the degree of direct or indirect influence on the lives of the narrators.

A considerable amount of information can be found about Pavel Z., but it is incomplete, his biographical data is listed only vaguely, usually in the form of short medallions. Most pieces about Pavel Z. are mainly written in connection with the so-called process with "Plastic People" or in connection with his artistic work. Mapping the life of Pavel Z., among other things, not just through his words and the testimonies of his close ones, is a probe into the history of a prominent personality, persecuted during the so-called normalization regime in Czechoslovakia and operating abroad, and a look back to his roots. Last but not least, it also represents an example of specific human thinking, and therefore serves as a mirror embedded in contemporary society.

This diploma thesis is focused on the everyday life of the inhabitants of tower apartment buildings in Kladno - Rozdělov. The houses designed by architect Josef Havlíček were built in the second half of the 1950s. Due to their uniqueness, both the external buildings and the timeless interiors and equipment they were listed as among the cultural sights. Using the method of oral history, I tried to capture the normal course of houses, the lives of individuals and entire families. The work is supported by a source base consisting of interviews with witnesses, archival materials, period legislation and research literature. It is divided into three basic parts - methodological, historical-contextual and empirical. On a general level, the thesis focuses on the system of housing allocation in the former Czechoslovakia and life on housing estates. Furthermore, I specifically describe the daily operation of the house, the figure of the caretaker who supervised maintenance of order, the use of common areas such as laundries, terraces or entrance halls, the area around the house, but also the daily life and leisure of "ordinary people" who lived there. A separate chapter is also devoted to the political propaganda of the time, which was part of the daily life of individuals and the whole society.

Målet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka om skolan är en del av verkligheten i den bemärkelsen att so-lärarna använder sig av studiebesök och människomöten inom sina so-ämnen på högstadiet. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer har jag frågat fyra elever respektive fyra lärare vad de anser i den här frågan. När det gäller elevernas uppfattning så visade resultaten att de uppskattar olika former av studiebesök och människomöten inom de olika so-ämnena och de har kvarstående minnen från olika utfärder och besök av personer på skolan. Resultaten visade också att hälften av de utfrågade eleverna är nöjda med hur dagens so-kunskap förmedlas. Lärarna däremot vill göra mer än vad de anser sig ha möjlighet till. Överlag tycker de att studiebesök är trevligt och konkret. Tyvärr ger arbetsbördan och högstadiets timplan dem organisatoriska problem vid olika utfärder. Besök av människor i skolan har de tudelade uppfattningar om. Vissa besök, som från före detta missbrukare eller personer med en annan sexuell läggning, ses som mindre lämpade än andra. Trots detta har lärarna haft besök av olika karaktär och dessa har varit givande och lärorika för både elever och lärare.

"Pizza - en muntlig historia. Berättelser och erfarenheter från den svenska pizzabranschen." I denna uppsats tittar jag närmare på den svenska pizzabranschen och försöker hitta rötterna till några av de egenheter som man kan stöta på när man besöker pizzerior i Sverige. Hur kommer det sig egentligen att man i princip var man än befinner sig i landet kan besöka en pizzeria med italienskt tema, som drivs av en invandrare från Mellanöstern, där du kan beställa en pizza med kebabkött och bearnaisesås, där väggarna pryds av bilder på Marlon Brando och byggarbetare i New York? Syftet med denna uppsats är att placera in detta fenomen i en större svensk social och kulturell historisk kontext. Genom intervjuer med tre olika invandrade entreprenörer i pizzabranschen, så får jag ta del av deras berättelser och erfarenheter kring hur de först trädde in i branschen samt deras bild av pizzabranschen inifrån. De beskriver en bransch som emellanåt kan vara riktigt tuff med hög stressnivå och knappa ekonomiska marginaler. Trots att såväl deras respektive inträden i branschen som deras erfarenheter av densamma skilt sig från varandra så kan vi se ett mönster där alternativa karriärvägar varit få vilket har varit en bidragande faktor till att de slutligen hamnat i pizzabranschen. Andras erfarenheter som liknar deras kan också hittas i tidigare forskning, som tillsammans med intervjuerna i denna uppsats ger en bättre förståelse för varför den svenska pizzabranschen har några av sina utmärkande drag. Uppsatsens resultat pekar i kombination med tidigare forskning mot en tvådelad förklaring. För det första så finns det specifika historiska omständigheter såsom den italienska arbetskraftsinvandringen till Sverige på 40- och 50-talet i en period av låg arbetslöshet, som inledningsvis öppnade upp möjligheter för branschen att växa samt bidrog till att forma själva branschstrukturen. Den förändrade situationen på arbetsmarknaden under 90-talet med högre arbetslöshet försvårade dock, inte minst för invandrare, att hitta andra typer av jobb. Som ett resultat av detta så kom nya grupper av invandrare, ofta från Mellanöstern, att arbeta i branschen i betydligt högre utsträckning. Detta har sedan bidragit till att forma branschen till det vi ser idag. / "Pizza - an oral history. Tales and experiences from the Swedish pizza business." In this essay, I take a closer look at the Swedish pizza business and try to figure out the roots of some the peculiarities you can encounter at a pizzeria in Sweden. How can it be that almost everywhere you go, you’re able to find an Italian themed pizzeria, run by an immigrant from the middle east, where you can buy a pizza with kebab meat and Béarnaise sauce surrounded by pictures of Marlon Brando and workers in New York? The purpose of the essay is to put this phenomenon within a larger Swedish social and cultural historical context. Through interviews with three different immigrant entrepreneurs in the pizza business in Sweden, I get to share their stories and experiences of how they first got into the business as well as how the see the business from within. They all have in common that their different social networks have played a big role regarding their entry in the business. They also describe a business that sometimes can be really tough with lots of stress and tight financial margins. Even though their respective entrances into the business as well as their experiences from the business differ from each other we can see a pattern where alternative career opportunities have been scarce which was a contributing factor to them ending up in the pizza business. Other experiences similar to theirs can also be found when looking at the earlier research, which in combination with the interviews in this essay, gives a better understanding of why so many immigrants work in the pizza business. Regarding the question why the Swedish pizza business has some of its distinguished features. The results combined with prior research hint at an explanation in two parts. First there are specific historical circumstances such as Italian labor immigration to Sweden in the 40s and 50s as well as low unemployment, initially opening up opportunities for the business to grow and shaping its organizational structure. However, the changing situation in the labor market during the 90s with higher unemployment made it harder, especially for immigrants, to find other kinds of work. As a result, new groups of immigrants, most notably from the middle east, ended up in the business, shaping it into what it is today.

Many historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral histories, one can consciously delineate service members who volunteered as opposed to those who were drafted to determine if the veterans‟ experiences change based on the nature of their entry into the military. Additionally, examining the implementation of a national draft and its effects on service members‟ experiences will offer a better understanding of American military history. While much of the attention of scholars has been on drafted soldiers in Vietnam, little research has been conducted on the experience of the volunteer soldier. This study relies on oral history interviews conducted with volunteer and drafted service members of the Vietnam War to determine if there were differences between draftees and volunteers based on their entrance into the military. The research and oral history interviews with the two veteran groups establishes that the dissent detailed by draft protesters was not always the case and service members, volunteers and draftees alike, more often than not accepted their military service. The interviewed veterans‟ responses suggest that resistance to military service during the Vietnam War may not have been as great as one might think given the attention that has been placed on the anti-draft movement.

In 1945/46, after the surrender of Germany in the Second World War, approximately twelve million German civilians living in Central and Eastern Europe were expelled (or fled before they received the inevitable expulsion order) mostly to Germany in what R.M. Douglas termed the "largest forced population transfer [...] in human history." Even though these events occurred over sixty years ago, the recollections of these expellees suggest the ongoing immediacy of their experiences. For this phenomenological-historical ethnography, I collected more than eighty life stories and oral histories specifically from ethnic Germans expelled from Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia (Sudeten Germans). Through the lenses of musical practice and musical repertoire, I investigate how these Sudeten Germans used and still continue to use music as a tool for both remembrance and adaptation in their new environments. I seek to understand music's significances for social and political integration in the Sudeten-Germans' "new sounding homeland" in West Germany. Taken one at a time, these recollections disclose the various ways in which music and musical practices retrieve memories of their Bohemian homelands and are able to mitigate both the loss of those homelands and the distressing overall effects of expulsion. Woven together, these recollections reveal how music offers emotional solace and facilitates the building of a new sense of belonging in the face of geographic displacement and material dispossession. I then compare these recollections to memories of Sudeten Germans expelled to the former East Germany as well as to the memories of Germans who were forced to stay in Czechoslovakia. This comparison highlights how the reframing and even silencing of musical practices in these environments affected processes of social identity reconstruction until the 1989 Velvet Revolution. I suggest that the analysis of the Sudeten Germans' individual musical experiences reveals new perspectives of how they used and still use musical practices to negotiate intercultural power relations and rebuild a sense of Heimat (notion of belonging to a place of origin). Broadly speaking, the results of this study facilitate an understanding of the phenomenon of forced migration and how music is able to reflect, reframe, and renegotiate it.

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