Public Historical Seminar Series
The series of public historical seminars focuses on themes addressing the history of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes on the territory of former Czechoslovakia. The series includes three different types of seminars: lectures of expert-historians (twice monthly), film seminars with the participation of invited guests (once a month), and discussions with witnesses or survivors (once a month). The seminar series is free and open to the public, and is intended for interested parties from the general public. The guarantor of the seminars is the Section for Research on Totalitarian Regimes of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR).
October 25, 2011 – Historian’s lecture „Utilisation of the case of the Rosenberg spouses: interpretation by the East and the West“
October 25, 2011 – Ronald Radosh, professor emeritus at the City University of New York and collaborator at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC., USA gave a lecture at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes under the title „Utilisation of the case of the Rosenberg spouses: interpretation by the East and the West“. The talk focused on the relationship between the case of the Rosenberg spouses and the Rudolf Slánský trial in Czechoslovakia.
Video recording
Fall 2009
The Fall 2009 series focuses on various facets of the Second World War and their impact on Czech society.
- When: once every two weeks, Thursdays beginning at 5:00 p.m
- Where: building of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Siwiecova 2, Prague 3
- Coordinators: Adam Hradilek, Mgr.Petr Kopal, Mgr. Vojtěch Ripka
September 2009
September 10, 2009 – Film Seminar Theme: The Tripartite in the Game for Poland Subheading: The 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Ukrainian Card Moderator: David Svoboda Guests: Václav Veber a Igor Hałagida
October 2009
October 8, 2009 – Program Theme: Enemy No. 1 of the Czech Underground Subheading: 65 years in the life of Ivan Jirous Moderator: František Stárek
November 2009
November 2, 2009 – Film Seminar Theme: Prague Calling Subheading: Saga of the Feierabend Family: Resistance, exile and return to roots Moderator: Jan Vajskebr Guests: Ivo and Tom Feierabend
December 2009
December 3, 2009 – Film Seminar Theme: Memory and Forgetting Subheading: Shadows of the Holocaust Moderator: Petr Slinták Guests: director Miloslav Novák, film columnist Alice Aronová
Spring 2009
The focus of the Spring 2009 series was normalization and its onset in Czechoslovakia.
- When: once every two weeks, Thursdays at 5:30 p.m
- Where: building of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Siwiecova 2, Praha 3
- Coordinators: Adam Hradilek, Mgr.Petr Kopal, Mgr. Vojtěch Ripka
February 2009
February 26, 2009 – Film seminar Theme: Two times Jan Subheading: Recollection of the acts of Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc at the beginning of 1969 Moderators: Petr Kopal a Petr Slinták
March 2009
March 5, 2009 – Meeting with witness-survivors Theme: Original Videojournal Subheading: Independent audio-visual news program from 1987-1989 Moderator: Adam Hradilek
April 2009
April 2, 2009 – Meeting with witness-survivors Theme: Bojanovice 1976 Subheading: Festival of second culture Moderator: František Stárek
May 2009
May 7, 2009 – Film seminar Theme: Citizens with coats of arms Subheading: or Nazis and communists against the aristocracy Moderator: Zdeněk Hazdra
June 2009
June 4, 2009 – Film seminar Theme: Charter 77 Subheading: PF 77 Moderator: Petr Kopal
July 2009
July 9, 2009 – Historian’s lecture Theme: Had the West Already Won the Cold War in the 1960s? Subheading: The Enigmatic Life of Vladimír Kazan–Komárek Lecturer: prof. PhDr. Igor Lukeš, Ph.D.
Fall 2008 Series
The focus of the Fall 2008 public historical seminar series was the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, its rise to power and consolidation of rule. The coordinators of the Fall 2008 series were PhDr. Petr Blažek, Mgr. Tomáš Bursík, Mgr. Petr Kopal, Mgr. Vojtěch Ripka.
Spring 2008 Series
The focus of the Institute’s first public historical seminar series in the Spring of 2008 was on the forms taken by State Security Service (StB) activities. The first film seminar series was focused on the theme “Film and history – totalitarianism and propaganda.” The coordinators of the first series were PhDr. Petr Blažek, Mgr. Tomáš Bursík, PhDr. Prokop Tomek, Mgr. Petr Kopal.