Organizational structure

The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is an organizational unit of the state governed by Act No. 181/2007 Coll. on the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Archive of Security Forces, and on amendments to some laws (hereinafter the Act).

Institute Council

The Institute’s supreme body is the Council. The Institute Council is established by law, with its powers, formation and activity being defined in provisions of Sections 6 through 10 of the Act, and the Rules of Order of the Institute Council. It is comprised of seven members elected and recalled by the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The Council of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes discussed and approved the Institute’s Rules of Organization at its 3rd session on 7 January 2008.

Institute’s management

Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

The Institute Council appoints and recalls the Institute Director. The Director defines the strategy and objectives of the Institute. He/she accounts for his/her activity to the Institute Council. He/she sees to preparing source materials for all matters falling within the competence of the Council, submits them to the Council for discussion and decision, and executes the Council’s decisions.

  • Mgr. Zdeněk Hazdra, Ph. D. – was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 1 May 2014
  • Mgr. Pavla Foglová – was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 11 April 2013
  • Mgr. Daniel Herman was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 16 August 2010.
  • Mgr. Zdeněk Hazdra was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 14 May 2010.
  • Doc. PhDr. Jiří Pernes Ph.D. was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 1 April 2010.
  • PhDr. Pavel Žáček Ph.D. was appointed the Institute’s Director as of 1 January 2008.

First Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

The First Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is appointed and recalled by the Institute Director. He/she stands in for the Institute Director within the full extent of his/her rights and duties as an authorized representative. The Institute’s First Deputy Director directly controls the Section for Research on Totalitarian Regimes and the Publishing Section, the director of the Section for Research on Totalitarian Regimes, and the director of the Publishing Section.

  • Mgr. Ondřej Matějka

Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes for Finance, Operations and Information Technology

The Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes for Finance, Operations and Information Technology is appointed and recalled by the Institute Director. He/she stands in for the Director and the First Deputy Director in all matters with the exception of matters which the Institute’s Director or First Deputy Director have reserved for themselves. The Institute’s Deputy Director for Finance, Operations and Information Technology directly controls the Division of Finance, Operations and Information Technology, the Director of the Section of Finance and Operations, and the Director of the Section of Information Technology and Digitization.

  • Ing. Jakub Stránský, PhD.

Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes Office

The Director of the Institute Office is appointed and recalled by the Institute’s Director. He/she directly controls the Institute’s Office, the Head of the Department of the Institute Council and Director’s Agenda, the Head of the Legislative and Legal Department, the Spokesperson and the Head of the Personnel Group.

  • Ing. Mgr. Michael Pelíšek

Spokesperson of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

  • Mgr. Pavel Ryjáček

Sections and departments:

Section for Research on Totalitarian Regimes

Director: Phone:

The Section for Research on Totalitarian Regimes ensures the examination and impartial evaluation of the period of Nazi occupation and communist totalitarian power, anti-democratic and criminal activity by entities of the state, particularly its security forces, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and organisations based on their ideology. It analyses the causes and means for the elimination of the democratic regime. It obtains and makes accessible documents about the period of Nazi occupation and the period of communist totalitarian power. It also documents the participation of local and foreign entities in supporting the totalitarian regime as well as those involved in resisting and defying it. Furthermore, it participates in the documentation of the crimes of the era of Nazi occupation and the period of communist totalitarian power. It arranges for recordings to be made of the testimony of people who lived through the periods that are being examined. The section is divided up into several departments and working groups. Each organisational unit has its tasks set out in the annual plan of work, but they also cooperate with the other units.
  • Department for the Study of Communist Totalitarian Power
  • Department for the Study of the Time of Non-Freedom
  • Documentation Department
  • Oral History Group
  • Group for the Study of Anti-Communist Resistance
  • Education Group
  • Anticommunist Resistance Administration Group (Act. 262/2011 Coll.)
Research results are released in the form of publications, professional studies, lectures or exhibitions aimed at both scholarly and lay audiences. Both the scholarly and informational methods of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes’ work are regularly made public on its Web site, at www.ustrcr.cz.

Publishing Section

Director: Bc. Michal Hroza

Within the framework of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR), the Publishing Section is responsible for preparing exhibitions, publishing and distributing periodical and non-periodical publications, putting on conferences, seminars, lectures and discussions, administering the Ján Langoš Library and the Memory of Nation digital archive of testimonies of witnesses to history, and cooperating with various Czech and foreign partners, be they institutions, civic associations or publishers.
  • Exhibition and Education Department
  • Publications Department

Section of Information Technology and Digitization

Director: Phone:

Within the organisational structure of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the Information and Digitization Section is a specialist workplace that converts documents from the collections of the Security Services Archive into electronic form and participates to an appropriate extent in the protection of archive records and cultural heritage. The section is responsible for digitization, data processing, and administering the information system. It cooperates closely with other departments of the Institute and the Archive.

This specialist workplace is organisationally divided up into three departments:

  • Electronic Records and Processing Department
  • Digitization Department
  • Department of Administration and IT Development

Section of Finance and Operations

  • Finance and Budget Department
  • Operations Department