SOU OBÉ DùJINY - Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV - Akademie věd ČR

Zápas dvou kultur Summaries v totalitním systému 247searching, forms, and changes of the identity of Czech Jews during the FirstRepublic. In the collective stories of Jews the author discusses phenomena suchas antisemitism, assimilation, Zionism, national consciousness, Czech patriotism,and Czech Jews’ attitudes towards Tomáš Masaryk. According to the reviewerSoukupová has fully demonstrated the usefulness of the method she has chosen,and has contributed to our understanding of the topic.“They Became his Victims”: Hitler and His ArmyPavel MückeBartov, Omer. Hitlerova armáda: Vojáci, nacisté a válka ve Třetí říši. Trans. from theEnglish by Jiří Voňka. Prague: Naše vojsko, 2005, 217 pp.This is a review of the Czech translation of Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War inthe Third Reich (New York, 1992). The work, by the respected American historianOmer Bartov, is a classic among books on the Wehrmacht. In it, Bartov is concernedprimarily with the ideological indoctrination of Hitler’s army, the social links withinit, war crimes, and the punishment of Wehrmacht soldiers, and, ultimately, themechanisms of self-justification and the post-war memories of German soldiers.The reviewer praises it highly.An Inspiring Search for AlternativesJiří PešekAlte, Rüdiger. Die Außenpolitik der Tschechoslowakei und die Entwicklung derinternationalen Beziehungen 1946–1947. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2003, 571 pp.(Veröffentlichungen des Collegium Carolinum, vol. 96)In this published version of his dissertation the author asks the followingfundamental questions: What reasons, motives, and foreign-policy conceptionswere decisive for Czechoslovak policy, parties, and the government when decidingto integrate Czechoslovakia into the East bloc? What internal conflicts consequentlyemerged in the Czechoslovak leadership? And what were the external factorsthat positively or negatively influenced these developments? With a thoroughknowledge of the sources and after having carried out research in Czech andFrench archives, the author analyzes the Paris Peace Conference, the drafting ofthe Czechoslovak-French Agreement, and the negotiations about the Marshall Planand “the German Question.” Ultimately, he sees no alternative to the “post-1945Czechoslovak road,” since there was little or no political will, public agreement, orWestern support.