UVSRPCK079 Compensation for Repression Victims

Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Winter 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Mečislav Borák, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Mečislav Borák, CSc.
Institute of Public Administration and Social Policy – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to familiarize the students with basic legal principles on the compensation to victims of totalitarian regimes in the Czech lands, including their explanation and practical application. It draws on the basic knowledge of the history of public administration, politics, law and the issue of minorities, stressing the unexplained historical connections of repression and the possibility of its compensation and restitution. It covers in detail the content basis and practical application of both legal principles and provisions regarding the compensation to victims of the Nazi regime (Czechoslovak and Czech compensations to political prisoners and resistance fighters, specific compensation to holocaust victims, compensation of forced labour and other Nazi inflicted injustice), and the legal principles and provisions regarding the compensation to victims of the communist regime (political prisoners, partakers on anti-communist resistance, members of the Auxiliary Technical Battalions, people abducted to the USSR Gulags, etc.). It also pays attention to the issue of property transfers of cultural assets of victims of World War II and to some of the current compensation issues, such as the options for restitution of property seized on the basis of the post-war laws or compensation to the Germans from the Czech lands. Study Outcomes: Professional Knowledge: Students acquires a basic overview of the legal standards relating to the compensation of victims of totalitarian regimes in the Czech lands, and the issues in their practical application, they know the cause and the extent of the political persecution of totalitarian regimes in connection with the possibilities of compensation to the affected persons, and they are well informed on trends in the development of this issue, including its international comparison. Professional Skills: Students are able to independently search for, collate and assess information on the political and persecutions and on the development of Czech provisions on compensation for victims of persecution, they can independently carry out a research for a specific compensation case. General Qualification: Students adopt an interdisciplinary approach to the issues addressed and better recognize their ethical dimension, they can appropriately make use of the acquired knowledge and skills not only on the field of public administration in the immediate implementation of compensation, but also in the pedagogical and other specialized work.
Syllabus
  • 1. Basic concepts in the issue of compensation to victims of repression, literature and sources on the topic, the victims of totalitarian systems
    2. The form and extent of Nazi persecution, compensation to victims of Nazism and to resistance fighters
    3. Compensation to victims of the Holocaust
    4. Compensation to victims of total deployment in the German Reich
    5. Restitution of cultural assets to the victims of war
    6. The form and extent of communist persecution, court rehabilitation and compensation to victims of communism
    7. Extra-judicial rehabilitation and compensation to the victims of communism
    8. Mitigation of property-related and other injustices caused by the Communist regime
    9. Compensation to Czechoslovak victims of Soviet persecution and repression (deportation, victim of the occupation of 1968, property issues in Carpathian Ruthenia)
    10. Compensation to the participants of the third resistance
    11. The current issues of the compensation to victims of persecution (expelled students, Church restitution, Volhynian Czechs, Germans, etc.)
    12. Debate on the issue of compensation, assessment of term papers
    13. Summary
Literature
    required literature
  • BORÁK, M. Klopotná cesta. Odškodňování nacistických obětí v evropských zemích. Soudobé dějiny, 16, 2009, č. 1, s. 177-182. info
  • GEYER, M., FITZPATRICKOVÁ, S. (eds.). Za obzor totalitarismu. Srovnání stalinismu a nacismu. Praha: Academia, 2012. ISBN 978-80-200-2035-2. info
  • BORÁK, M. Soudobé problémy odškodnění obětí druhé světové války v České republice. In: Śląsk Opolski i Opawski w Unii Europejskiej. Problemy pierwszych lat czlonkostwa w stosunku do przemian społecznych/Opolské a opavské Slezsko v Evropské unii. Problémy prvních let členství se zřetelem na společenské proměny. Opava: Slezská univerzita v Opavě, 2007. ISBN 978-80-7248-432-4. info
  • Borák, M. a kol. Perzekuce občanů z území České republiky v SSSR. Praha, 2003. info
  • Černá kniha komunismu. I. díl. Praha-Litomyšl: Paseka, 1999. ISBN 80-7185-194-9. info
    recommended literature
  • BORÁK, M. (ed.). Budoucnost ztraceného kulturního dědictví. Dokumentace, identifikace a restituce kulturních statků obětí II. světové války. Praha: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR a Tilia, 2007. ISBN 80-86904-17-2. info
  • BORÁK, M. Verspätete Gerechtigkeit. Die Restitution von enteigneten Kulturgut in Tschechien. Osteuropa, 2006. ISBN 3-8305-1043-8. info
  • BORÁK, M. (ed.). Ztracené dědictví. Příspěvky z "kulatých stolů" na téma dokumentace, identifikace a restituce kulturních statků obětí II. světové války. Praha: ÚSD a Tilia, 2006. ISBN 80-86904-13-X. info
  • BORÁK, M. Fenomén tzv. vojenských táborů nucené práce v Československu a jeho mezinárodní souvislosti. Slezský sborník, 2000. info
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: Přednáška 6 HOD/SEM.
Teacher's information
Paper of at least 8 pages whose aim is to test the ability to independently search and process information, including its analysis and the ability to generalize a specific problem to produce a work of a correct analytical or system-oriented analytical professional text, using correct actual accounts and methodology. The work may consist of a research of some of the legal standards relating to the compensation of victims of repression, a paper focusing on a specific topic on the field of compensation to victims of totalitarian regimes in Czechoslovakia or Czech Republic (or on comparisons of approaches applied abroad), an annotated list of articles with the topic of compensation from professional or public printed media or from internet media, the analysis and evaluation of a particular compensation case (can be based on data obtained from relatives known, or from published sources). In the paper, it is necessary to indicate references to the used literature and sources. The paper is subject to a public discussion among the students and evaluated by the instructor.
The instructor will notify the students on the topics that have not been fully lectured for them to seek in the compulsory literature or at the e-learning site.
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2014, Winter 2015, Winter 2017, Winter 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fvp/winter2016/UVSRPCK079