The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with de­vel­opment of the Czech society in the 20th century and to provide thus a neces­sary back­ground for the oral history project stu­dents will par­ticipate in. The course focuses on the key crossroads of modern Czech history (emergence of an inde­pen­dent state, Nazi occu­pation, es­tablishment of the Communist regime, Prague Spring, Vel­vet Rev­olution). The oral history project, which consti­tutes an integral part of the course, is or­ganized by the Institute of Contem­porary His­tory of the Academy of Sci­ence of Czech Re­public. The thematic focus of the project is the late six­ties in the U.S.A. and Cze­choslovakia - parallels and differences and/or Czech exiles in America who re­turned back home after 1989. American students will par­ticipate in the project together with Czech stu­dents and young assis­tants of the Institute of Contemporary History.

Oldřich Tůma

Dr. Oldřich Tůma, Director of the Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sci­ence of the Czech Republic. Dr. Tůma is one of the most renowned Czech historians fo­cusing on the post-war history of Czechoslovakia. His recent work deals with analysis of totalitarian regimes and mechanisms of their functioning. Various oral his­tory projects were developed in the Institute of Contemporary History under his supervision. These projects mainly aim to reconstruct historical memory of the period after 1948 in Czechoslovakia.

Miroslav Vaněk

Professor of Czech and Czechoslovak History, Head of the Department of Oral History and Contemporary History, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague; Director of the Center of Oral History in the Institute for Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Dr. Vaněk has worked as a Senior Researcher in ICH since 1992. In 2000, he gained experience with US university academic and students’ environment at UNC at Chapel Hill as a Visiting Professor. Dr. Vaněk serves as a Member of Scientific Council of the Institute for Contemporary History, as a Member of the Editorial Board of the Bulletin 98-Monthly for the nonprofit sector. His research focuses mainly on following topics: Environmental problems in Czechoslovakia 1969-1989, Student’s movement under socialism, Young generation in 80’s, and Oral history methods. Since 2010, he is a president of the International Oral History Association.