Documentary histories
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.
The Minister of the Interior’s Inspectorate, 1953-1989
(Inspekce ministra vnitra v letech 1953–1989)
Milan Bárta
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The Inspectorate of the Minister of National Security, soon after renamed as the Inspectorate of the Minister of the Interior, was created in 1953 as the body responsible for ensuring the Ministry’s compliance with the law. It concurrently became one of the Minister’s transmission gears, which he used to control the activities of the various units of the Ministry. Although a large part of its work remained virtually unknown to the public, it fulfilled significant tasks mainly in the context of investigating the unlawfulness of the 1950s and the 1968-1969 period, when it fell upon the Inspectorate to explain the Ministry’s actions. The goal of this documentary history is to clarify for readers the organization and impact of this until now little known, albeit important component of the Czechoslovak Ministry of the Interior. ÚSTR, Prague 2009, 1st edition, 324 pages, paperback, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-27-4 This publication is available only in Czech. |
We Demand the Death Penalty!
The Propaganda Campaign Accompanying the Trial of Milada Horáková and Co.
(Žádáme trest smrti! Propagandistická kampaň provázející proces s Miladou Horákovou a spol.)
Pavlína Formánková, Petr Koura
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The goal of this book is to provide the reader with details on one of the most monumental and sophisticated propaganda campaigns of the 1950s. From many archival documents we come to learn how the campaign was carried out and in what way not only Party organs, but also the wider public, including children, were involved in it. ÚSTR, Prague 2009, 1st edition, 148 x 210 mm, 616 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-03-8 This publication is available only in Czech. |
The United Enemy Intelligence Database System and its Utilization in Czechoslovakia
(Systém sjednocené evidence poznatků o nepříteli v československých podmínkách)
Prokop Tomek
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The United Enemy Intelligence Database System (Russian: SOUD, or SSEP, in Czech) was a unique project consisting of a top secret database of enemies of the USSR and its satellites. It concerned a database of individuals who were actually or allegedly dangerous to the stability of Communist regimes. This documentary history describes the database system’s construction and examples of its practical utilization in Czechoslovakia between the years 1977-1989. ÚSTR, Prague 2008, 1st edition, 180 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-05-2 This publication is available only in Czech. |
Live Torch at 10th-Anniversary Stadium
The Protest of Ryszard Siwiec Against the Occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968
(Živá pochodeň na Stadionu Desetiletí. Protest Ryszarda Siwce proti okupaci Československa v roce 1968.)
Petr Blažek
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This publication presents the protest of Ryszard Siwiec, who lit himself on fire on 8 September 1968 at Warsaw’s 10th-Anniversary Stadium (Stadion Dziesieciolecia) in protest against the participation of Polish troops in the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Here, published in the Czech language for the first time, are virtually all accessible archival documents about Siwiec’s protest, including his own texts, an introductory historical study and period photographs. ÚSTR, Prague 2008, 1st edition, 80 pages, Czech, ISBN 978-80-87211-02-1 This publication is available only in Czech. |
“This time it’s gonna explode”
(„Tentokrát to bouchne“)
Petr BLAŽEK (ed.)
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Documentary history on the organization and reception of the campaign against Charter 77 signatories (January-February 1977). Department of the Security Services Archive of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Faculty of Arts of Charles University, Prague 2007, 130 pages. Critical documentary history of as yet primarily unpublished archive documents clarifying the background behind the organization of the massive campaign against Charter 77 signatories and its reception in the first weeks of 1977. Focuses on documents stemming from management of the Communist regime’s repressive apparatus: Communist Party of Czechoslovakia leadership, the judiciary, prosecutors and the political police. The published documents are from the holdings of the Security Services Archive, National Archive and Libri prohibiti. This publication is issued by the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague in cooperation with the Department of the Security Services Archive of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. It was put together for those participating in the conference marking the anniversary of the founding of Charter 77, which took place in March 2007 at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague and the National Museum. This publication is available only in Czech. |