Collections
Our publications can be purchased in bookstores or at the Institute’s Ján Langoš library in the Czech Republic, or in the Czech-language at: www.kosmas.cz. For international orders in English, please write: info@kosmas.cz, objednavky@kosmas.cz.
Kristian Feigelson, Petr Kopal (eds.): Film and History 3.Political Camera – film and Stalinism
(Film a dějiny 3. Politická kamera – film a stalinismus)
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The publication emerged as the basis of collection Caméra Politique – Cinéma et Stalinisme (2005) edited by Prof. K. Feigelson from the Sorbonne in Paris. This collection of contributions from the pens of leading European film historians gives a clear image of the history of Soviet cinema at the time of Stalinism and testifies to its reception and influence in modern Soviet film, as well as in other cultures (France, Italy, Poland, etc). The book Caméra Politique –Cinéma et Stalinisme is a superior publication of the collection, enriching as an original Czech study that attempts to explain the Stalinist era (chiefy, but not only) through Czech film. In this „czech“ section (In light and shadow of Stalin), the authors attempt to find answers to these basic questions: how filmmaking within a totalitarian system worked, what were challenges and opportunities and how it was reflected. Particular attention is paid to the memory of Stalinism, the phenomenon of film festivals in February 1948 and finally the topic of retro (film and television images of Klement Gottwald in the 70s and 80s). ÚSTR, Casablanca, 2012, 1st edition, bound publication, 564 pages, ISBN 978-80-87292-15-0 (Casablanca), ISBN 978-80-87211-58-8 (ÚSTR) |
Zdeněk Hazdra, Václav Horčička, Jan Županič (editors): The Aristocrats of Central Europe in Confrontation with the Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century.
(Šlechta střední Evropy v konfrontaci s totalitními režimy 20. století)
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The aristocracy has played a prominent role in the history of European nations. Despite having gradually lost influence in the last two centuries, to date they have constituted a significant socio-historical phenomenon. The aristocracy is synonymous with tradition, belief, history, and continuity. The twentieth century, however, erected many obstacles before the central European aristocrats. And the relationships, attitudes, and behaviors of the aristocracy vis- à- vis totalitarian power, the forms of aristocratic resistance whose opposition and subsequent persecution, like the back of a coin, and consequently the collaberation and aristocratic sympathizing with totalitarianism, and particularly with Nazism, poses a problem that to this day has not been completely elaborated. The very first attempt to engage with the question of the status of central European aristocrats during the time of totalitarian rule arose in collaberation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Philosophy Faculty at Charles University and aside from historians from the Czech Republic, specialists from Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Romania, and Lichtenstein were invited to contribute to the publication. ÚSTR, Prague 2011, 1st edition, bound publication, 348 pages, ISBN 978-80-87211-52-6 |
Crimes of the Communist Regimes
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English version of the collection contains more than 40 papers from participants at the international conference (Prague, 24 - 26 February 2010). The conference was made possible through cooperation with our partner institutions and organisations in the working group on the Platform of European Memory and Conscience. Its aim was to try and create an overview of the crimes committed by the communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain, to assess them from a legal point of view and to search for possible suggestions on how to deal with these crimes today. |
Václav Veber, Jan Bureš et al: The Third Resistance. Chapters from the History of Anti-Communist Resistance in Czechoslovakia in the 1950’s
(Třetí odboj.Kapitoly z dějin protikomunistické rezistence v Československu v padesátých letech 20. století)
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This publication has the ambition of moving our knowledge of the third resistance a considerable step forward. In contrast with with many of those authors that do not doubt this event, the publication corroberates its existence from manifold vantages and in many forms, introducing an unequal struggle within a society oppressed by the totalitarian communist state, describing defeats and partial victories, and attempts to prove that the resistance, in all its various forms, was a legitimate element of a time that contributed to the moral standing of society. The tradition of resistance against communism deserves to be commemorated, as contemporary Czech society could not make do without it. ÚSTR-MUP-Publishing Aleš Čeněk, Prague 2011, 1st edition, 336 pages, ISBN 978-80-87211-44-1 (ÚSTR), ISBN 978-80-8685567-7(MUP), ISBN 978-80-7380-306-3 (Publishing Aleš Čeněk) |
Resistance and Opposition Against the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia and in Central Europe
(Odboj a odpor proti komunistickému režimu v Československu a ve střední Evropě)
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The proceedings Resistance and Opposition Against the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia and in Central Europe include the studies of twenty-nine contributers in a international conference of the same name held from April 15 – 16th 2009 in Prague. Contributions were delivered in Czech, English, German, and Slovakian mapping the situation in Czechoslovakia and in other communist ruled countires, documenting the resistance movements formed therein, including the fates of rebellious groups and individuals from their ranks. On the other hand they describe the mechanisms by which the communist regime consolidated their power; whether by influencing public opinion through the use of printed media domestically as well as in immigrant communities, through oppressing spontaneous protest, or through the construction of forced labor camps. The study complements its discussion with first-hand participants of the third resistance. dboje. ÚSTR, Prague 2010, bound publication, 368 pages, ISBN 978-80-87211-42-7 |
DVD 20 Years After/20 let poté
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This collection contains 27 papers from participants at the international conference on “Twenty Years After: Central and Eastern European Communist Regimes as a Shared Legacy,” which was organized in November 2009 by the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in cooperation with four partner institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. The conference focused on the legacy of the non-democratic past. Unlike more common approaches stressing the radical nature of ruptures accompanying the demise of communist regimes in the region, both the academic community and Central and Eastern European societies are now probably ready to accept a more detailed account of prevailing – but also of transformed – social and political practices. The papers are divided into the following thematic sections: Transitional Justice, the Transformation of Security Forces, Lifestyle(s) and the Culture of Everyday Life under Late Communism, the Roots of the Fall of Communism, the Conceptualization of History in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education during the (Post-) Totalitarian Period, and “Old” Networks in Post-Communist Settings. The DVD also contains photographs and video recordings from the conference as well as eight publications in English published by the Institute. |
War Experiences of Czech Society in Confrontation with the Nazi Occupation
(Válečný prožitek české společnosti v konfrontaci s nacistickou okupací)
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On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the second World War the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes organized a symposium entitled „War Experiences of Czech Society in Confrontation with the Nazi occupation.“ Authors of individual contributions, on the basis of which the proceedings were conducted, focused to a certain extent on more familiar topics, or more precisely, greater attention was enjoyed by certain topics (members of the Czechoslovak army- Ladislav Kudrna, ÚSTR), expecially on the fate of hitherto less represented aspects of society, which include, for example, women (Jana Burešová, of the department of history FF UP in Olomouc), children (Radka Šustrová, ÚSTR), aristocrats (Zdeněk Hazdra, ÚSTR), as well as German inhabitants living with the territory of the protectorate (Lukáš Vlček, ÚSTR), and Christians involved in the resistance (Stanislava Vodičková, ÚSTR). It can be regarded as very beneficially reflecting post-war oriented Czech historiography covering the period of the Nazi occupation and the second World War (Vitěslav Sommer, ÚSTR). ÚSTR, Prague 2010, bound publication, 136 pages, ISBN 978-80-87211-38-0 |
University Students on Totalitarianism – Proceedings of Noteable Student Work
(Vysokoškoláci o totalitě - Sborník oceněných studentských prací 2009)
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On March 27, 2009 the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes held the first year of a student research competition for undergraduates concerning totalitarianism, at which students of history and related fields presented their scholastic research. Majority of the ten honored contributions, on the basis of which the proceedings were conducted, where concerned with historical events that are closely linked with specific regions of our republic, but do not neglect a single study that looks at historical activities connected with the Czech past from abroad. ÚSTR, 2010, 1st edition, bound publication, 328 pages, ISBN 978-80-8721135-9 |
Film and History 2. Adolf Hitler and the Others – Filmic Images of Evil
(Film a dějiny 2. Adolf Hitler a ti druzí – filmové obrazy zla)
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The proceedings of contributions created in accordance with the theme of the fifth year of the film festival of the same name is building freely upon the „pioneering“ volume that arose under the editorial guidance of historical Petr Kopal in 2005. The other volume directs a pictoral presentation of evil in films capturing modern historical events (be it in documentary or retrospective form). Individual contributions examine applications of these iconographic motifs as cautionary reminders and simplified schemata in the service of propaganda. The insertion of this imagery into various genres – historical epics, crime films, and comedies – and forms is portrayed, which were translated to viewers. They also, however, engage with complex questions of guilt and the theme of ambiguity. ÚSTR, Casablanca, 2009, 1st edition, 352 pages, ISBN 978-80-87292-01-3 (Casablanca), ISBN 978-80-87211-34-2 (ÚSTR) |
NKVD/KGB activities and its cooperation with other secret services in Central and Eastern Europe 1945-1989, II
(Aktivity NKVD/KGB a její spolupráce s tajnými službami střední a východní Evropy 1945–1989, II)
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This anthology contains papers from individual participants at the international conference on “NKVD/KGB activities and its cooperation with other secret services in Central and Eastern Europe 1945-1989, II,” which was organised on 9-11 November 2008 by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in cooperation with the Institute of Historical Studies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance and the Czech Senate. The 22 texts by European and overseas historians are divided into five thematic sections: 1. the archives of security forces in Central and Eastern European countries; 2. the establishment of the security apparatus in Soviet satellite states after World War II; 3. Central and Eastern Europe as a starting point for intelligence infiltration into Western societies; 4. the development of cooperation between the NKVD/KGB and satellite intelligence services; and 5. the operations of communist intelligence services, joint operations managed by the KGB. The texts are in English, Czech or Slovak; summaries of all texts are included in English. Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, 2009, 1st edition, paperback, 292 pages, ISBN 978-80-87211-24-3 |
Anthology of the Security Services Archive 6/2008
(Sborník Archivu bezpečnostních složek 6/2008)
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The latest issue of the Archive's professional periodical features 12 contributions from Security Services Archive and Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes staff members. The authors chiefly deal with the period of the communist regime, but the anthology also covers the period of the Protectorate. The wide selection of themes that the anthology offers includes the issues of drug addiction, Czechoslovak and Soviet foreign intelligence services and the Border Guard Service brigades. The publication contains articles and studies as well as biographies and analyses of Archive collections and documents. ABS, ÚSTR, Prague 2009, 1st edition, hardcover, 464 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-19-9 This publication is available only in Czech. |
The Security Apparatus, Propaganda and the Prague Spring
(Bezpečnostní aparát, propaganda a Pražské jaro)
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The anthology from the international conference “The Security Apparatus, Propaganda and the Prague Spring” features 20 participants’ papers. The contributions are thematically divided into several sections: the European perspective on the Prague Spring, reactions of the security apparatus of Soviet satellites to the Prague Spring, studies on the Czechoslovak security apparatus in the context of the Prague Spring, and studies concerning certain aspects of the occupation itself. The authors further touch on the second life of the Prague Spring, or how incidents of the year 1968 influenced events to come in Europe. ÚSTR, Praha 2009, 1st edition, soft bound, 280 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-23-6 This publication is available only in Czech. |
Munich 1938 and Czech Society – Proceedings from the Symposium on the 70th Anniversary of the Signing of the Munich Agreement
(Mnichov 1938 a česká společnost – sborník ze sympozia k 70. výročí podepsání mnichovské dohody)
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The international scholarly symposium which took place in September 2008 at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes attempted to introduce the “Munich” events of the year 1938 from various angles. The contributions of leading Czech and German historians who participated in the conference – Robert Kvaček, Václav Kural, Hans H. Hahn, Eva Hahnová, Miloš Trapl, Ladislav Kudrna and Zdeněk Hazdra – are found in this publication. ÚSTR, Prague 2008, 1st edition, 140 x 200 mm, 120 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-06-9 This publication is available only in Czech. |
Anthology of the Security Services Archive 5/2007
(Sborník Archivu bezpečnostních složek 5/2007)
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The fifth issue of the Anthology of the Security Services Archive presents articles and papers, information on individuals who significantly influenced modern Czech history, documents and commentaries, reports on collections used by researchers, and miscellaneous further texts, focusing on the expert public, historians, archivists, students, as well as lay readers interested in the recent Czech past. The main contribution in the articles and papers section is Iva Kvapilová’s “The Organizational Development of the National Security Corps (Sbor národní bezpečnosti – SNB) in the 1970s, Focusing on its Public Security Service,” in which she covers the structure and development of the SNB in the 1970s, its personnel makeup, attempts at reorganization, cooperation with almost all sectors of the state and non-state apparatus, and confusion between the State Security Service and the Ministry of the Interior. In his article, “‘Action, Flyers,’” Jiří Mikulka presents stories of five former RAF fliers who attempted to depart into exile in December 1950. The theme of Czechoslovak RAF flyers is further mentioned in the Collections and Materials section. In the Personnel column, we find a biographical study on the notable democratic politician and political prisoner of the Communist regime, Prokop Drtina, written by Ondřej Koutek, and a portrait of Arnold Keilberth, the journalist and StB collaborator, contributed by Prokop Tomek. The anthology additionally contains short reports and information accompanied by photographs, a detailed list of names and extensive list of abbreviations. Department of the Security Services Archive of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Prague 2007, 1st edition, 392 pages, Czech. This publication is only available in Czech. |