Vera Olivová: Historian and Time

Abstract

The author of the article investigates the main stages of scientific activity of the famous Czech professor of history at Charles University in Prague Vera Olivová (1926–2015). This paper is based on the analysis of her publications. In the 1950s and 1960s Vera Olivová published a fundamental monograph on Czechoslovak-Soviet relations from 1918 to 1922 with a large appendix of documents, as well as a series of articles on the relations of the Czechoslovak Republic with neighbouring countries — Germany, Austria, Poland, and Hungary. Despite the fact that they were written in line with the Marxist-Leninist methodology that prevailed at that time in the historiography of socialist countries, it is due to the wealth of archival material being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, and to the diversity and depth of research, these works by Olivová were an important contribution to the study of the history of the foreign policy of the Czechoslovak Republic and international relations in Central Europe. During the Prague Spring of 1968, she highlighted the key problems of the political and diplomatic history of Czechoslovakia from a new perspective, which was reflected in the book Czechoslovakia in a disrupted Europe, as well as various articles and reports presented at scientific conferences. After being dismissed from Charles University in 1970 and banned from teaching and conducting scientific work, Vera Olivová published several books on the history of sports and games, which brought her worldwide fame. After the “Velvet Revolution”, she returned to Charles University to teach and to continue her research on the history of Czechoslovakia. In 1991, she was elected chairman of the Edward Beneš Society and launched avid scholarly, organisational and publishing activities. The works of Vera Olivová are deeply imbued with loyalty to the democratic ideals of the founders of the Czechoslovak Republic — Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Edward Beneš.