Czechoslovak Republic Research Articles

Podwójne nazewnictwo na Śląsku Cieszyńskim (Zaolziu) od czasów monarchii habsburskiej po dzień dzisiejszy

The article presents the process of introduction of double naming to the Cieszyn lands, later to Zaolzie. It presents this process in the space of time from the middle of the 19th century to the present day. It devotes attention to the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the interwar Czechoslovak Republic, post-war Czechoslovakia and the contemporary Czech Republic. In the context of dual naming, it draws attention to the legislative solutions of individual governments and to the use of dual naming in practice during specific periods. The article does not avoid describing sensitive issues such as the destruction of bilingual signs with double names of places and streets, or the growing wave of aversion towards Poles.

Радянський Союз і словацьке питання в роки Другої світової війни

The purpose of the article is to study the Slovak question in the foreign policy of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The methodological basis of the proposed article is the principles of historicism and objectivity, the application of which involves an unbiased depiction of past events in their historical context. To carry out a comprehensive scientifi c analysis of the article, the author has used the unique historical research methods – problematic, comparative-historical, retrospective, and diachronic. The scientifi c novelty lies in the systematic analysis of the place and the role of the Slovak question in the foreign policy of the Soviet Union in 1939–1945. Conclusion. The USSR considered the independent Slovak Republic an artifi cialentity, a product of German expansion. The establishment and development of Soviet-Slovak interstate relations in September 1939 – June 1941 were primarily dictated by the conjuncture of the short-lived German-Soviet partnership. After the Nazi Germany attacked on the USSR and the severance of Soviet-Slovak interstate relations, offi cial Moscow supported the idea of the continuity of the Czechoslovak Republic and the annulment of the Munich Agreements. In prac-tice, this meant that the USSR advocated the return of Slovakia to the Czechoslovak Republic, which was to become an infl uential leader of Soviet infl uence in Central and South-Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union considered the future state and legal system of the republic to be an internal aff air of Czechoslovakia and did not interfere in settlement of Czech-Slovak relations. On the positive side, the Soviet leadership recognized Slovaks as a separate people. This forced the Czechoslovak government and E. Beneš personally to partially reconsider their views on the issue and agree to the revival of the Czechoslovak Republic as a common state of equal Czech and Slovak nations but without a clear defi nition of the state and legal status of Slovakia.

Стратегії повсякденного виживання української еміграції у міжвоєнній Чехословаччині (1918– 1939 рр.)

The purpose of the study is to show the assessment of Ukrainian politicians in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic in the 1920s and 1930s of their departure abroad through the prism of everyday life. The research methodology is based on the principles of a specifi chistorical approach, problem chronological, objectivity, comprehensiveness, and integrity, as well as the use of methods of analysis and synthesis. Th e scientifi c novelty is to refl ect everyday life of Ukrainian emigration. Conclusions. The assessment of Ukrainian political exiles of their departure abroad and the expediency of their stay in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic at the level of everyday practices, in fact, depended on foreign and domestic political and economic factors. If in 1918–1921 attention to going abroad and the expediency of staying abroad was minimal, starting from 1921–1925, provided a combination of “the concept of rapid return”, “Russian aid action”, “golden years of the Czechoslovak crown” and the results of scientifi c and tech nological progress, the stay abroad of Ukrainian immigrants was assessed quite optimistically and eff ectively. Changes in emigration assessments of their departure abroad from optimistic to pessimistic began in 1925–1929: political and everyday – from the moment of the “turn” and the collapse of the “Russian aid action”, economic and everyday – from the time of the interwar Czechoslovakia with the fi rst eff ects of world war crisis and infl ation of the Czechoslovak crown. Since the peak of the economic crisis in the country fell in 1932 and thus the crisis lasted until 1935 (closing the labour market, total unemployment), Ukrainian emigrants were faced with the question of purely physical survival. It was no longer about any political, social, or cultural mani festations. In 1930, they demonstrated to Ukrainian emigrants the futility and inexpediency of their stay abroad, both by the fact that unemployment was eliminated in Bolshevik Ukraine, as well as throughout the USSR (1933), and by the fact that the Second World War “knocked” on emigrant doors (1938, the Munich conspiracy).

Social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in interwar Brno (renovation according to the found sources)

For today the social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in Brno is known to be the least studied issue in the history of the Carpatho-Ukrainian student movement in the period of interwar Czechoslovakia. Based on all available archival and published sources, in this study the attempt is made to reconstruct and analyse the process of formation and development of public activity of Ukrainian students (natives of modern Transcarpathian region (Ukraine) and Presov self-governing region (the Slovak Republic)), who in the 1920 – 1930s studied at higher education institutions in Brno (the University named after Masaryk, High Technical School, High Vet School). The author of the article states that the social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in Brno developed in several stages. The first stage is the second half of the 1920s, the period when Prague student associations such as the Ukrainophile Union of Subcarpathian Students; and the Russophile society Vozrozhdenie (Rebirth) extended their activities in Brno some local students not only became their members but also formed some of their non-formal centers in Brno (e.g. Union of Subcarpathian Ruthenian Students). However, due to the decrease in the number of Carpatho-Ukrainian students at local universities, this process soon slowed down. Next stage is the second half of 1930s. At that time, relatively large independent Carpatho-Ukrainian student organizations – Russophile Society Verkhovina (1936) and the Subcarpathian Academic Society (1937) formed and gradually intensified in their activity in Brno. However, due to the political situation in the Czechoslovak Republic in 1938 – 1939, their activities ended. More information about the issue discussed in the article can be found in the original documents kept at the archival institutions of Brno.

The Intellectual Elite of Ukraine in the First Czechoslovak Republic

Sceintific review of Zavorotna N. Scholars in Exile: The Ukrainian Intellectual World in Interwar Czechoslovakia

Propaganda in political strategy of the Czechoslo-vakian Communist Party during the first decade of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic

Propaganda in political strategy of the Czechoslo-vakian Communist Party during the first decade of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic

School and Educational Objectives of the Interwar Period in the 1st Czechoslovak Republic

The paper has the ambition to map the social and political situation in Slovakia in the period between the two world wars which had impact on the situation of families and education. After the establishment of a common state of Czechs and Slovaks – the 1st Czechoslovak Republic (1918), there were new conditions for reform movements and ideas of pedagogical thinking. The study is focusing on social events and transformations that guide the school system and education. The paper analyses specifically, what inspired the education and practical functioning of schools in Slovakia in this new state formation of the multinational Republic. The obtained picture tells about the state of reforms in education with its penetration into also into the family education pattern in Slovakia is partially compared with the conditions in the Czech Republic. The educational and upbringing objectives of this period are presented through the statements of historical documents, from a review of available educational literature and the press. We also deal with the question, what ideological ideas of the interwar years had an impact on the setting of goals and in family education. What did parents follow in their daily upbringing at the beginning of the 20th century and in the era between the two world wars? The paper, therefore, gives also the insight into the history of everyday life of Slovak families and into the family education in the interwar period.

Features of the process of European integration of the Czech Republic

This paper is devoted to highlighting the stages through which the Czech Republic went on its way to full membership in the European Union. At the beginning of the work, attention is paid to the works of Ukrainian, Russian and Czech scientists analyzed in this context, on which the work is based. Further, an introduction to the historical discourse of events in the political and social spheres in the Czechoslovak Republic after the Second World War is carried out. Attention is drawn to the process of division of the Czech and Slovak Republics in the first half of the 90s. The article tells about the choice by the Czech Republic of the political and social vector for «returning to Europe». Other problems of the Czech Republic on the path of European integration are analyzed, among which one can note the conflict with the Federal Republic of Germany over the forced eviction of the German population from the country in the post-war period, based on the decrees of the President of the Czech Republic Edward Benesh, as well as the solution of this problem through diplomatic means. Attention is also drawn to another problem, which was expressed in the conflict with the government of the Austrian Republic regarding the construction of the Temelin nuclear power plant in the South Bohemian region, in the immediate vicinity of the Austrian borders. The Melk Protocol was analyzed, on the basis of which this conflict was resolved. The general conclusions on this work are summarized, in which the success of the Czech strategy for European and Euro-Atlantic integration is stated. Problems that may arise for Ukraine on the same path are predicted, taking into account the consolidation of the European and Euro-Atlantic vectors of development in the preamble of the Constitution of Ukraine.

The Slovak Question in Foreign Policy Vision of the Second Rzeczpospolita Authorities (1938 – March 1939)

The Polish authorities had a negative attitude towards the central government of the Czechoslovak Republic at that time. Therefore, the Polish reprezentatives were in active contact with the opposition Glinka Slovak People’s Party. They had a number of common ideological values such as Slavic reciprocity, Catholicism, Anti-Bolshevism, and positive assessment of authoritarianism. The Polish politics assured that Warsaw supports state-building plans of the Slovak leaders and solemnly welcomed their delegation to Poland in May 1938. Polish-Slovak relations were marked by contradictions during and shortly after the Munich crisis. The Slovaks suggested state association and submitted a declaration on the Polish-Slovak union. But they did not receive an answer, so they agreed with the Prague government about granting Slovakia autonomy. The Polish authorities expected more pronounced separatism from the Slovaks. Warsaw made territorial claims for Slovak lands in the area of Spis and Orava because Poles wanted to push indecisive oppositionists. The ultimate form of the demands and the forceful nature of Polish actions demonstrated the real content of Warsaw’s policy towards Slovakia. These events resulted to the improvement of Czech-Slovak relations within the framework of Post Munich Czechoslovakia and also led to the appeal of Slovak politicians to Germany. Both sides tried to improve the atmosphere of bilateral relations during the winter of 1938-1939. Meetings of delegations were organized for discuss different ways to intensify positive cooperation. An influence of Nazi Germany was increasing in the region at that time. So, the realization of the danger, posed by Germans, was the main factor to Polish-Slovak rapprochement. In early March, Berlin organized a campaign to put pressure on Slovak politicians and persuaded them to secession. They tried in vain to put forward a Polish counterweight. The declaration of independence of Slovakia according to the German scenario marked the strategic failure of Polish foreign policy, because the southern border of the state became a zone of potential danger

Becker , Peter Wheatley , Natasha Remaking Central Europe: The League of Nations and the Former Habsburg Lands (review)

SEER, 99, 4, OCTOBER 2021 776 peasant assemblies that always drove toward unanimous decision-making, the Soviet public sphere tolerated no dissident voices. Whereas Jeffrey Brooks’s analogous study, When Russia Learned to Read (Princeton, NJ, 1985), can be tested quantitatively (literacy rates in late imperial Russia were steadily rising), no means can be devised to quantify the contributions of public speaking to the development of Russia’s civil society. It is hard to agree with the judgment that the Bolsheviks ‘achieved a synthesis of […] authority and democracy’ (p. 293). Nevertheless, this study significantly advances our understanding of late imperial Russian political history. Department of History Jonathan Daly University of Illinois at Chicago Becker, Peter and Wheatley, Natasha (eds). Remaking Central Europe: The League of Nations and the Former Habsburg Lands. The History and Theory of International Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2020. xvi + 396 pp. Notes. Index. £80.00. In a speech to the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung in 1991, the German-born American historian Fritz Stern recalled how in April 1979 he was walking alongside ‘bombed-out squares and half-decrepit mansions’ close to one of the crossing points between West and East Berlin with the French public intellectual Raymond Aron when the latter suddenly turned to him and said: ‘It could have been Germany’s century’ (Fritz Stern, Verspielte Größe, Munich, 1996, p. 11). In some ways, this is also the starting point for the fine collection of essays under review here, except in this case the reader is invited to imagine that the century could have belonged to post-Habsburg Austria, or more specifically, to 1920s-era Vienna. This radical suggestion is based on the claim that, as a state whose finances, borders and even independent existence were controlled by the victorious Allies from 1919, Austria stood at the junction of competing but overlapping trends in world politics: the imperial, the national, the regional and the internationally-minded. As ‘Global Austria’ (Weltösterreich), an imagined ‘inter-national’ or ‘supranational ’ cultural and economic space already present in the minds of some Central European intellectuals before 1914, it also drew several of its near neighbours (and erstwhile dominions) into the same trajectory, notably Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In the first chapter, Glenda Sluga introduces a little-known fact: in 1927 governments in the region launched a deliberate campaign to move the headquarters of the League of Nations from Geneva to Vienna. This project REVIEWS 777 ‘lost its traction only once the League of Nations had taken the decision to build the Palais des Nations on Lake Geneva’ in 1929 (p. 31). Beyond the League itself, the Austrian capital hosted a variety of congresses in the early 1920s, including the 1922 International Postal Union Conference and the 1926 PanEuropa Congress. Its police chief, Johannes Schober, who also served twice as Chancellor of the Austrian republic, became the founding president of Interpol, or, as it was then known, the International Criminal Police Commission, in 1923 (p. 11). More generally, the hunger problems that the city suffered in the immediate post-war period made it a central meeting point for experts from across the world in the fields of nutrition, paediatric medicine and finance. In part, these developments mark a profound political shift in Austria as it was ‘reduced’ from empire to small nation, but they also reflect the continued influence of what Sluga calls ‘Habsburg-induced cultural internationalism’ (pp. 24, 28). One example of this would be the cosmopolitan idealism of the writer Robert Musil, whose world vision straddled the passage of Central Europe from site of great power rivalries to global war to mid twentiethcentury liberal internationalism. As Sarah Lemmen shows in her impressive essay on the foreign policy of the inter-war Czechoslovak Republic, the shadow of Vienna’s imperial past could also be seen in attempts to make Prague the new capital of the post-Habsburg lands after 1918, in other words the region’s ‘mainplayer’,throughitsdevelopmentofnewinternationalpolitical,economic, diplomatic and cultural networks extending well beyond Europe (p. 351). In 1920, President Tomáš Masaryk even enticed the Orientalist Alois Musil (a second cousin of Robert) to move from Vienna, where he had established an Oriental Institute...

Tomáš G. Masaryk na stránkách periodika Die Drei Ringe 1925‒1938

The authors of this study have researched an internal periodical of the German Free Masons Die Drei Ringe which was published from the year 1925 until 1938. Their interest focuses on the attitude of the German Free Masons towards the figure of T. G. Masaryk in the First Czechoslovak Republic. There are neither positive nor negative expressions of interest towards the first President until the year 1929. An increasing number of references and a growing intensity of expressed esteem are apparent as of 1930. German Free Masons in Bohemia and Moravia were especially attracted to Masaryk’s concept of humanity, democracy and equality of nations. Much less focus is given to the religious dimension of Masaryk’s thinking, probably only from the side of the German professor of philosophy Oscar Kraus who presents Masaryk’s practical monotheist religiosity, naturally very understandable and attractive for the Free Masons. It is evident, however, that German Free Masons hold a strongly positive attitude towards Czechoslovakia, the country in which they lived, so they could be paradoxically referred to as true "Czechoslovakians".

Negativní parlamentarismus v Ústavní listině Československé republiky, inspirace a její limity

It has been 100 years since the adoption of the Constitutional Charter of the Czechoslovak Republic. The tradition of this document is alive in the constitutional order of the Czech Republic. However, this tradition cannot be absolutized, it would confuse the interpretation of the current legal system. While the Constitutional Charter of the Czechoslovak Republic from 1920 was built on the so-called principle of negative parliamentarism, today the constitutional order is built on the so-called positive parliamentarism, which does not allow “non-political” government. De lege ferenda, the question is whether it would not be more appropriate to strengthen the positive parliamentarism and return to 1918 – to elect a government.

Approval of the Constitution of Czechoslovakia in 1920 and the evolution of the constitutional and legal status of Podkarpatska Rus as part of the republic

The article considers the constitutional and legal status of Subcarpathian Russia under the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic of February 29, 1920. Special attention is paid to the legal regulation of the highest state authorities of Czechoslovakia, as well as the position of national minorities in the country. Certainly, the First World War destroyed the political system and borders in Europe, which led to the creation of independent states, including Czechoslovakia. The newly created state faced a number of important tasks. The issues of state building, political system and establishing harmonious interethnic interaction between citizens were of paramount importance. Stabilization of the internal situation and success in the international arena were ensured by the adoption of a basic law - the constitution. After all, the constitution is the highest law of the country, which regulates the most important political and legal relations in it, establishes the basic provisions of law and order.
 It was established that the problem of Subcarpathian Russia was properly and in detail covered in the Constitution, although the terms of the Small Saint-Germain Peace Treaty on the "territory of the South Carpathian Ruthenians" did not require it. Nevertheless, both Czechoslovak specialists in state and legal issues and politicians of the republic considered it not only necessary but also necessary, primarily for state reasons, to fix the problem of the eastern province of the republic, Subcarpathian Russia, in the Constitution. Such a fixation, they believed, would demonstrate the sovereign right of the Czechoslovak Republic to the territory of Subcarpathian Russia, the constitutional legality of the region's membership in the Czechoslovak state. Demonstration of this right only by a separate law on the autonomy of Subcarpathian Russia would be insufficient, it would even feel some temporary solution to the problem.

Unofficial field of information and communication of ukrainian emigration in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic: anecdotes, experiences, gossip, rumors (1921-1939)

The article deals with informal communication between Ukrainian political emigrants, who found themselves on the territory of interwar Czechoslovaczczyna. The aim of the study. reveal a number of topics that interested Ukrainian emigrants, using such forms of informal communication as gossip, rumors, anecdotes, true and untrue stories. The methodological basis of the study is a historical-chronological method of studying the emigration everyday life, based on the study of the emergence, formation and development of norms of being and their various forms. The scientific novelty of the study is to present well-known political, social, cultural and military figures as ordinary individuals, who are characterized by the of everything ordinary and everyday, because they, first, as bearers of national identity, found themselves in new realities of life, were involved to creating and adaptation of new life rules, norms, standards, regulations of everyday life;. secondly, absorbing the realities of Czechoslovak everyday life, ukrainian emigrants transferred their previously formed "ukrainian pre-liberation" views and norms of everyday life to Czechoslovak soil. Conclusions. Informal communication in an emigration environment was indicative of relaxation of people, who often got tired of too formal norms of communication and needed changes in emotions (such as "splashing out emotions" at a football or hockey match). Escaping from some emotions, emigrants freed their psyche for others and thus emotionally rebuilt and developed.

THE TRIAL OF SLOVAK «BOURGEOIS NATIONALISTS» IN 1954

The article covers the preparation and conduct of the trial of Slovak «bourgeois nationalists» in 1954. The research methodology is based on the general scientific principles of historicism and objectivity. Implementing these principles made it possible to avoid inconsistencies, inconsistencies, isolation from the objective historical process during the research. It turned out to be the culmination of a campaign against Slovak «bourgeois nationalists» in Czechoslovakia, which killed thousands of people, mainly from the Slovak communist intelligentsia. G. Husak, L. Novomesky, D. Okali, I. Horvath, and L. Holdos appeared in the dock during the trial in 1954. They were accused and found guilty of uniting with the reactionary bourgeoisie as members of a bourgeois-nationalist group to preserve the independence of the Slovak authorities, hindered the construction of socialism in Czechoslovakia, and hampered the economic and cultural development of the state. They were also accused of anti-state activities aimed at achieving the disintegration of the Czechoslovak People's Democratic Republic and the transfer of power in Slovakia to the reactionary bourgeoisie in the interests of foreign imperialists. According to the author, the Slovak «bourgeois nationalists» trial was a consequence of the unresolved Slovak national question in the Czechoslovak Republic. The legitimate aspirations of the progressive Slovak communist intelligentsia, aimed at strengthening Slovakia's position in the unitary state, were interpreted by the Prague authorities as a manifestation of separatism aimed at impeding the integration processes in the state and the unity of the two fraternal peoples. The trial of the Slovak bourgeois nationalists was completely fabricated, and its consequences proved counterproductive.

SOVIET STANDARDS OF ALCOHOLIC LEGISLATION OF TRANSCARPATHIAN UKRAINE (1944 – 1946 YEARS)

The article deals with copying Soviet alcohol legislation by the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine on the region's territory. All this happened during Transcarpathia's preventive Sovietization in 1944 – 1945, from the liberation of Transcarpathia from Hungarian-German invaders on October 28, 1944. It should be noted that officially Subcarpathian Rus' was part of Czechoslovakia before signing the agreement on the reunification of Transcarpathian Ukraine with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The treaty was signed on June 29, 1945, and ratified by the Provisional National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic on November 22, 1945, and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 27, 1945. The Transcarpathian region was created by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet Decree on January 22, 1946. The next day the legislation of the USSR was introduced here. It should be noted that the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine copied the experience of the Soviet Union regarding alcohol policy. It consisted of establishing a monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, complete state control over the production of wine and vodka products. One of the first laws of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine was decrees on the nationalization of distilleries and the brewery of Count Schönborn-Buchheim in Pidhoryany. Later, church distilleries were nationalized. Thus, a half dozen enterprises for the production of alcohol were nationalized in Transcarpathian Ukraine. By separate resolutions, the People's Council regulated the prices of alcohol, vodka, and beer. We also briefly consider the industrial capacity of enterprises for the production of vodka, alcohol, beer, and point out the potential opportunities for winemaking in Transcarpathian Ukraine. After the signing of the reunification agreement, on July 6, 1945, a separate resolution of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine established a trust of the alcohol and vodka industry at the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine food industry department, to which the distilleries of Transcarpathian Ukraine were subordinated. That was one of the steps in preparation for implementing the industrial complex of Transcarpathia to the All-Union. The resolution of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine controlled «the production of alcoholic beverages and the prosecution of production without permits». At the same time, the leadership of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine often resorted to using the products of distilleries for their purposes, the military council of the 4th Ukrainian Front, «security police», etc.

Národopisné oddělení Národního muzea v letech 1938–1948

This text discusses the history of the Ethnographic Department during the 1938–1948 period, i.e., chiefly during the Second World War and the Third Czechoslovak Republic. There was the significant shift in the ideological concept of the National Museum, as the institution progressed from the ideology of Czechoslovakism to defence of the Czech nation, and it was also necessary to deal with the pervading Nazi ideology and its specific manifestations (e.g., Germanization and Aryanization). On a practical level, the department primarily had to cope with a lack of space, as well as the gradual loss of and the fluctuations in staff. The fate of Drahomíra Stránská, who was a key figure in the museum’s ethnography, is also discussed. On a conceptual level, the department did not advance much and remained at the level of descriptive or comparative ethnography with an emphasis on other Slavic nations and the domestic environment.

The Czechoslovak national tragedy of the 1938 year

The article deals with the problem of the internal situation in Czechoslovakia, its political and economic development in the specified period. Particular attention is paid to the efforts of Czechoslovakia aimed at preventing the division of the country. The leadership of Czechoslovakia entered into international treaties, strengthened the state’s defenses, and modernized the army. The article also touches upon the international relations of Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy on the further fate of Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 30s. XX century. The leadership of Czechoslovakia and its president Edvard Beneš felt the threat looming over the country from Germany, so they took certain steps to preserve the integrity of the Czechoslovak republic. The reform of the army began in the country, it was modernized, equipped with new equipment, weapons, aviation. A new line of fortifications was built along the borders. The diplomatic department of Czechoslovakia was also not idle. Consultations were constantly held with the USSR, Great Britain, France and Germany on the issue of preserving the country’s sovereignty, international treaties were concluded on assistance in the event of an attack by a third party. But, despite all these efforts, at the end of September 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided by force, the Sudetenland was torn away from it, fascist troops were brought into the country, and the leaders of the state were leaders of the fascist party. All these changes were enshrined in an international treaty - the Munich Agreement. Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain took part in its signing. Representatives of the Czechoslovak Republic were not even invited to the conference. The Czechoslovak side was familiarized with the terms of the agreement only after their adoption. Czechoslovakia could not in any way influence the decisions of Hitler, Mussolini, Deladier and Chamberlain. As a result, throughout the Second World War, Czechoslovakia existed as two separate parts: the Protecto-rate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic.

The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic of 1920: to the issues of democracy of post-war state formation

The article describes how the features of the First Czechoslovak Republic state formation corresponded to democratic principles; it is examined the influence of external factors and tendencies to the constitutional process; it is investigated the implementation of the fundamental principles of democracy in the norms of the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920. It should be stressed that the foundation of Czechoslovakia was influenced by democratic values, but also it was directly influenced by the interests of the Entente Powers, especially Great Britain and France. It manifested itself in the fact that representatives of the Czechoslovak national movement sought the support of the Entente states in the process of creating an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks in territories over which the pre-war sovereignty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was recognized. Members of the Czechoslovak national missions were negotiating with representatives of foregin politics at this period. Czechoslovak national corps were created, fought on the side of the Entente states and formed the basis of the future army of the state, whose project was actively promoted. However, total control and dependence on Entente’s strategic interests which sometimes went against the established principles of democracy was the other side of the Entente’s support for the Czechoslovak national movement. For this reason, the democratic principles of state formation violated, and this especially concerned the solution of the national question. Features of the Czechoslovak state formation were of direct importance for the constitutional process. As a result, the democratic nature of the norms that regulated the status of national minorities, the legal meaning of the concept of “the Czechoslovak people”, the authority of the President of Czechoslovakia, can be questioned. Nevertheless, the author comes to the conclusion that the Constitution consistently contained norms on human rights and freedoms, and it regulated the mechanism of legal restriction of state power. Therefore, conclusions are drawn that the constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic was democratic.

The Impact of Historic Events on the Formation of the Creative Method of Ernest Kontratovych in the Early Period (1930s-1940s)

The article focuses on the early works of Ernest Kontratovych (1912-2009), one of the founders of the cultural and artistic centre in Subcarpathian Ruthenia. His period of creative formation occurred between the 1930s and the 1940s. At that time, Subcarpathian Ruthenia, as part of the Czechoslovak Republic, suffered from the effects of irregular agrarian reform and the Global economic crisis that has affected all of Europe. The mountainous areas of Verkhovyna, where government action and the crisis have led to poverty and famine, have suffered the most. After graduating from the Uzhhorod Singing and Teaching Seminary (1932), Kontratovych was sent to remote villages in mountainous areas for pedagogical work. There he witnessed the events that led to the choice of themes for his early works. Tragedies, such as the depopulation of villages, famine, and impoverishment of the people of Verkhovyna, and resulted in a picturesque series with images of the disadvantaged people, the cripples, the beggars. These experiences made a lasting effect on Kontratovych’s work. He peculiarly interpreted the theme of war. The lack of images of military activity is compensated by images of war victims – the orphaned children, crippled people, beggars. The study examines Kontratovych’s expressionist style in the context of the tasks perceived by the artist as his responsibilities to recreate and convey to the audience the tragedy of the contemporary situation. Exaggeration and deformation of form, as well as displacement of objects, emphasized the emotional intensity of the works. At the same time, he frequently turned to the daily life of the people of Verkhovyna, which created a counterbalance to these dramatic works. Traditional events such as wedding processions, preparations of the bride, and dances are shown in an optimistic, joyful palette in a similarly expressionist style.