Choose the angle from which you’d like to look at a given era. You can, for example, get closer to people in the past and witnesses still living today, or take a closer look at the specific features of the communist regimes in Europe. This option gives you a specific choice of perspectives that offer a basic overview of the past of the Eastern bloc.

Ideology

Ideology is the main perspective we would like to explore here. The period clips and documents focus on journalism and news coverage representing the official, regime-approved interpretation of the events. The items illustrate the elementary principles in addition to the rhetoric of the communist ideology in Central Europe.
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Memory

Of all the perspectives we offer, memory is the most difficult one to grasp, as it presents the various forms of recollecting the socialist era. We include it here because the prominence of the debate about collective memory in the countries that shared the experience shows how important it is.
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Oppression

From a variety of viewpoints of the socialist past, oppression is usually considered to be one of the main characteristics of the given period. We chose it as one of the axes, because although the situations presented here never concerned the majority of society, human rights violations were characteristic of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, thus putting them side by side with the other iliberal, non-democratic regimes of the world.
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Personal story

This axis connects all the other perspectives. It does not attempt to cover one certain social phenomenon in its full scope; we selected examples that can transmit the personal and emotional experience of an individual face to face with ideology or repression.
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The content here is organized according to chronological theme. We have chosen elements that are key to the Czechoslovak communist past, but also speak to the similarities and differences among the individual communist regimes in Europe. We have divided some of the eras into multiple themes in order to create a more multi-dimensional picture of the era.

The Show Trials chapter includes materials regarding the first half of the 1950s, a period of consolidation in the Czechoslovak communist regime when it controlled the judiciary and eliminated its real and imagined opponents.
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1950s — Show trials

The process of collectivisation is a specific form of the Stalinist modernisation in rural areas. Its essence was the demise of private family management and the creation of agricultural cooperatives and state farms.
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1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture

The Prague Spring is a unique period in the development of the Eastern bloc, when Czechoslovak society attempted to implement a programme of reform of the communist regime.
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1968 — Prague Spring

In 1968, the armies of the Soviet Union, along with several other countries of the Eastern bloc, occupied Czechoslovakia. It is one of the examples of how the Soviet Union controlled and limited the autonomy of the communist countries.
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1968 — Invasion

Normalisation is the name for the Late State Socialism in Czechoslovakia. This period was marked by strong political stability and the great paralysis of the public space, in which any politically oriented civic activities that were not in line with the official ideology essentially vanished.
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Normalisation – Everyday Life

After the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the five Warsaw Pact countries in 1968, a regime known as the Normalisation regime was gradually created. The social liberalisation and political and cultural relaxation of the 1960s were gradually replaced with purges and protection.
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Normalisation – Dissidents

Over the course of 1989, the communist regimes in Europe started to collapse. Although these changes progressed more slowly in Czechoslovakia, the strengthening protests culminated in a student demonstration in November.
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1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

A Delicate Friendship

A Delicate Friendship
Categories
Personal story Personal story
Normalisation – Dissidents Normalisation – Dissidents
Text

A Letter to Prison

A Letter to Prison
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Video

A Serious Conversation

A Serious Conversation
Categories
Personal story Personal story
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life
Video

Accusations

Accusations
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Video

Almost Hopeless

Almost Hopeless
Categories
Oppression Oppression
1968 — Invasion 1968 — Invasion
Video

Back to the Past

Back to the Past
Categories
Memory Memory
1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture 1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture
Image

Changing Heroism

Changing Heroism
Categories
Memory Memory
Normalisation – Dissidents Normalisation – Dissidents
Text

Class Cleansing

Class Cleansing
Categories
Oppression Oppression
1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture 1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture
Image

Diary of the Artist

Diary of the Artist
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Video

Education for All

Education for All
Categories
Ideology Ideology
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life
Text

Extraordinary Times

Extraordinary Times
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

Forced Eviction

Forced Eviction
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture 1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture
Video

Friends from Moscow

Friends from Moscow
Categories
Ideology Ideology
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life
Video

Girl on a Tractor

Girl on a Tractor
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture 1950s – Collectivisation of Agriculture
Video

Good Ol’ Days

Good Ol’ Days
Categories
Memory Memory
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life
Video

Here when We Need Them

Here when We Need Them
Categories
Memory Memory
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

History at the Opera

History at the Opera
Categories
Memory Memory
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Text

Hot Debate

Hot Debate
Categories
Oppression Oppression
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

In the Courtroom

In the Courtroom
Categories
Oppression Oppression
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Image

In the First Row

In the First Row
Categories
Memory Memory
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

Invasion of Privacy

Invasion of Privacy
Categories
Oppression Oppression
Normalisation – Dissidents Normalisation – Dissidents
Text

Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

Looking for a Traitor

Looking for a Traitor
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Text

Losers and Usurpers

Losers and Usurpers
Categories
Ideology Ideology
Normalisation – Dissidents Normalisation – Dissidents
Video

Milkman, not Agent

Milkman, not Agent
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

Negotiations

Negotiations
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

One-sided Fight

One-sided Fight
Categories
Oppression Oppression
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

Our Occupation

Our Occupation
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1968 — Invasion 1968 — Invasion
Image

Politician in a Swimsuit

Politician in a Swimsuit
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1968 — Prague Spring 1968 — Prague Spring
Video

Revolution in the Regions

Revolution in the Regions
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

Rewriting History

Rewriting History
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Image

Slovak Tank Man

Slovak Tank Man
Categories
Memory Memory
1968 — Invasion 1968 — Invasion
Video

Stay Tuned

Stay Tuned
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1968 — Invasion 1968 — Invasion
Video

The Dilemma

The Dilemma
Categories
Oppression Oppression
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life
Video

The Kid and the Housekeeper

The Kid and the Housekeeper
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

Uncertainty

Uncertainty
Categories
Personal story Personal story
1950s — Show trials 1950s — Show trials
Video

We Are Not Children!

We Are Not Children!
Categories
Ideology Ideology
1989 – Regime Collapse 1989 – Regime Collapse
Video

What We Don’t Talk about

What We Don’t Talk about
Categories
Personal story Personal story
Normalisation – Everyday Life Normalisation – Everyday Life