The study is focused on the phenomenon of collective violence
that took place in the territory of the Czech lands during the spring and summer 1945. Albeit the war operations had been concluded since the 8th May 1945, general living conditions resembled rather a continuation of the war in the time - at least until the end of the July 1945. Despite the traditional interpretation of the May 1945 as a crucial reversal, the study focuses on the collective violence as a phenomenon overlapping traditional turning points. Remaining high amount of violent interactions is an element connecting the
final war operations with the first weeks and months after. Applying concepts of political sociology (Charles Tilly), social psychology (Philip Zimbardo) and sociology (Randall Collins) the study strives to capture interdependent nature of collective violence between its structural preconditions and situational dynamics. Based on the quantitative evaluation of the acts of collective violence, the first part outlines a macro social topography of collective violence with the main focus on the period between April and August 1945. The main point is an identification of key actors of the politics of collective
violence and their correlation to basic configurations of particular political regimes (i.e. occupational regime of the so called Protectorate and limited democratic regime of Czechoslovakia after May 1945). The second part evaluates social and cultural mechanisms facilitating escalation of violent situations into mass atrocities.The study identifies impulsive acts of collective violence as limited to temporary transitive violent rituals and turns attention
to the important role of the state organised specialists in concrete violent situations. and Článek zahrnuje poznámkový aparát pod čarou
The authors consider the changes in the conception, organization, ways of spending, and forms of leisure in the Czech Lands from the establishment of the Communist monopoly on power in early 1948 to the second half of the 1950s. (After this point leisure time here began strikingly to change under the infl uence of consumerist trends.) They consider the topic in the context of the dominant ideology and changes in economic, social, and arts policies. The authors take into account gender differences, contrasts between town and country, and special features of social groups. They pay particular attention to leisure amongst young people and children. The authors do not, however, see the Communist takeover of February 1948 as a watershed in the sphere of leisure. Instead, they demonstrate both the continuity and differences between the period of limited democracy, from May 1945 to February 1948, and the years that followed. In some cases, they highlight features that were identical in Nazi German and Communist approaches to leisure activities (the rejection of jazz, ''trash'' (brak) in the arts, and Western infl uences in general). The authors discuss how the Communist regime intervened intensively in the way people chose to spend their free time, in its endeavour to shape a new type of man and woman in the new social conditions. At the same time, particularly in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the State so emphasized the importance of the work of building socialism, that leisure was seen as a ''necessary evil'', since it used up valuable physical and mental energy that would have been better spent on increasing productivity. For the same aims, but also with regard to the idea of somewhatdemocratising the arts, the regime gave preference to activities such as political and vocational self-education as well as the study of selected arts and cultural values. In keeping with the subordination of the individual to the interests of society, collective forms of recreation and the leisure (holidays spent with groups of co-workers, mass group visits to plays, fi lms, concerts, museums, galleries, and, later, Pioneer camps) were given priority. Traditional club activity and individual leisure were seen as ''bourgeois survivals''. Some young people’s non-conformist leisure activities met with suspicion from the authorities or with outright repression. Amongst the models of leisure that the regime held worthy of emulation were the Socialist youth construction projects (stavby mládeže), ''volunteer'' work, and additional instruction or training. The new organizations, such as the Revolutionary Trades Union Movement (Revoluční odborové hnutí - ROH), the Czechoslovak Union of Youth (Československý svaz mládeže - ČSM), and the Union for Co-operation with the Army (Svaz pro spolupráci s armádou - Svazarm), which took the place of the earlier clubs and associations, comported with the new ideology and provided the required forms of leisure. The authorities endeavoured also to support considerably developed and differentiated hobbies, such as making art, playing board games, and collecting. Special facilities were established to run these activities, including the enterprise-based clubs of the ROH, houses of culture (kulturní domy), and people’s educational societies (osvětové besedy). Forms of universally accessible activity, like chess and phillumeny (collecting matchbox labels), were supported, whereas fi nancially more demanding hobbies or those linked to private gain, such as philately or numismatics, were marginalized. A slight retreat from the ideologised conception of leisure came with the so-called ''new course'' of 1953. But more striking changes were made in the second half of the 1950s. These years, which saw shorter working weeks, a higher standard of living than before, and the emergence of consumerist trends, are described by the authors as a period of the planned expansion of leisure and its gradual individualisation.
The reasons for conversion or withdrawal from traditional churches could be different in every historical period. Historians should recognize the secondary or contrary historical processes like foundation of small movements and "free" churches, and also appreciate individual motives of a convert. e author of this paper researches conversion on the basis of 1) religious term and its different meanings in historical contexts, 2) study of the convert‘s "Lebenswelt" and his local church and religious culture. At first he compares the similar meanings of the term conversion in different theological encyclopedias (change of religion) and puts forward
Karl Rahner’s notion of internal conversion as Bekehrung
(a change of the involved man in his spiritual relationship to God) as an inspiring tool for the methodology of ecumenical or comparative church history. A summary of church development and the legislative status of different denominations in the Habsburg monarchy in the 19th century follows. The author approaches that the wave of religious changes in the late 19th century was truly brought about by the internal pluralization of religious culture. He demonstrates his point by analysing conversion in the Prague diocese in 1900. and Článek zahrnuje poznámkový aparát pod čarou
The preserved correspondence of Božena Němcová can be used as a source for an analysis of her attitude to her children. The letters enable us to reflect if these attitudes diverged from the conventions of the time, to what degree her personal experiences reflected in her raising of the children and what priorities she envisioned for them. The principles Němcová quoted can be to a certain degree seen as representing a clash of only slowly changing social norms (i.e. the notion of the patriarchal family with father-provider) and the rapidly changing social and economic reality. Němcová herself was forced to submit to the economic situation of her family and through her own income tried to improve its situation. As for the raising of the children, she mostly advocated traditional views. However, we can consider modern her conviction of the importance of first-rate education, without regard to gender. As for the future professions of her children, she viewed this question in a practical way, considering the possibilities for professional fulfilment and salary. There is a marked difference in the approach of Němcová to her sons and to her only daughter, influenced of course by the fact of their greater or shorter distance from home, but also probably by certain traditional and gender-stereotypical thinking. The educational style of Němcová should not be considered liberal, as she most often reminded her children of their duties, moral principles, obedience, respect and responsibility.
This paper deals with the personality and the work of the noble, writer and intellectual Maximilian count Lamberg (1729–1792) which was already examined by several Czech historians (Polišenský, Kroupa, Cerman). Firstly, the paper evaluates the current state of research to show that despite of the attention of researchers focused on this personality, there are still lot of contexts and details which remain unknown. Secondly, the paper analyses the question of the relevance and the historical value of Lamberg’s conserved works which are situated between memories, essays and autobiographical fiction. In the main part of the paper, the thesis of Jiří Kroupa, which assumes the appurtenance of Maxmilian Lamberg both to the Moravian milieu and to the European Republic of letters, is examined. Lamberg’s accessible works, not only the most famous Mémorial d’un mondain but also the other books, are used as a base of the research.
The catastrophic floods in the Czech lands in July 1997 and August 2002 showed that historical flood memory had been lost. The little used sources to recover it include early printed books. This article brings a selection of several exceptional flood cases captured by printed documents from the 16th-18th centuries. Extant early printed books and the information that they contain (verified from other sources where possible) suitably complement and extend the potential of historical hydrology and meteorology for the study and documentation of early floods that occurred before the beginning of instrumental observations and measurements. and Jan Munzar, Stanislav Ondráček, Lubor Kysučan.
The aim of the article is to explain the transformation of accounting with reference to two Moravian cities, Olomouc and Uničov, between the mid-18th and 19th centuries. The article summarizes the concept of cameralism, the practical reasons for accounting reforms at the central level of the monarchy, and the beginnings of cameral accounting in the second half of the 18th century. The first legislation on the introduction of cameral accounting in municipal government dates from 1768; however, even after that year and indeed until 1922, individual cities continued to have a major influence on the specific form of accounting they used. Although sources from the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century are preserved only fragmentally, the main change in Olomouc and Uničov, as well as in towns in the Czech borderland studied by Petr Cais, happened around 1850, when the cities started accepting printed forms that remained in use for almost a century. In 1922, binding rules for accounting and cash desk service were published, but this had little effect on the accounting records of Olomouc and Uničov. Their journals and main accounting books maintained approximately the same form and structure regardless of this turning point. Neither did they reflect the various changes in the political system of the Czech state, up until the end of World War II. From this point of view, the cameral accounting technique designed by Enlightenment economists can be seen as a fundamental contribution to the modernization of accounting in our territory.