Illegal confessional education of children in Slovakia in the period of Socialism (political and religious context)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to point out a specific segment of education of children in Slovakia in the period of Socialism (1948–1989) through the example of confessional education of children in the environment of the secret Church. After the Second World War, a significant turnover in education occurred in Czechoslovakia under the impact of Soviet politics. Schools were nationalised, which in fact meant the disappearance of church schools and plurality in education. After the Communist coup in 1948, education was immediately reformed by the Education Act of 21 April 1948, which unified the system of education and made it a state monopoly with a pro-Soviet orientation. The socialist school was indoctrinated by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism; the content of education at all levels, as well as leisure time activities of children. Work with children and youth in a religious spirit was harshly punished and considered an anti-state activity. Therefore, in the period of political liberation in the 1960s (Prague Spring), the so-called secret Church started its activity. The paper is focused on an analysis of the model of working with children in the secret Church in Slovakia between 1973 and 1989 through the method of oral history.