FVP:USESED025 Comparative Analysis of Politi - Course Information

USESED025 Comparative Analysis of Political Persecusions in Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century I

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

prof. PhDr. Dušan Janák, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Lubomír Hlavienka, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)

Guaranteed by

prof. PhDr. Dušan Janák, Ph.D.
Institute of Central European Studies – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Contact Person: Mgr. Lubomír Hlavienka, Ph.D.

Timetable

Tue 10:35–11:20 C311

• Timetable of Seminar Groups:

USESED025/A: Tue 11:25–12:10 C311, D. Janák

Prerequisites

FAKULTA(FVP) && TYP_STUDIA(N) && FORMA(P)
Expert Knowledge:
Students are able to orient themselves in the methods of research of political repressions, and in the specializations of institutions and organizations that deal with this kind of research in the Czech Republic and abroad. Students know the literature and sources related to this issue including more recent research projects. They are able to characterize criminal law and the system of justice in totalitarian regimes, to discern between war crimes and genocides, to compare the crimes of Nazism and Communism. Students will acquire knowledge on court and out-of-court forms of persecution, will be able to characterize the categories of the victims of political repressions, will know the historical context of the process of rehabilitation and compensation of the victims and the present results of this proces.
Expert Skills:
Stuents are able independently to use the acquired knowledge when they search for information about the victims of persecution, identify, classify and interpret acquired data and evaluate them. They are able to choose adequate methodological procedures for critical assessment of all circumstances related to the research procedure, and to suggest optimal solution, eg when comparing the camp systems or categorizing the victims of repressions. They are also able independently to characterize the position and to proces the lives of political prisoners, interned persons and prisoners of war, and to find out practical possibilities of their rehabilitation and compensation.
General Competency:
Subject graduate is able to utilize his expert knowledge and skills, for example, in the projects of History and Memory, as he or she has mastered the methodological and formal principles of creating the records of victims of political repressions, ranging from the way of selection, sorting out and recording comparable data, through their verification in various sources up to the creation of electronic database. Thus he or she is able to get involved in the programmes that aim to honour the memory and the heritage of victims and their rehabilitation and compensation. Due to necessary coordination of partial activities in the research process, the graduate has adopted the skills useful in team work and other research areas that require collection, identification, verification, comparison, cataloguing and interpretation of data files.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Central European Studies (programme FVP, N6702-MTS)

Course objectives

The aim of the subject is to familiarize students with the role of political persecutions and repressions in non-democratic forms of government, with their typology and periodization. Students will be familiarized with the forms and methods of research of political repressions, the principles of keeping records of victims of persecution, and with the methods of comparative analysis of political repression mechanisms in non-democratic regimes. The emphasis is put on capturing historical context of the beginning, operation and the task of internment and POW camps, and the structure of their victims. Further, the subject deals with the comparison of repressive character of court and out-of-court persecutions including politically motivated executions; the process of rehabilitation of the victims of persecution in particular regimes, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, with reference to both published and unpublished results of long-term investigation. Thus, with the use of concrete materials, students will be presented with the possibilities of comparative analysis and typology of political persecutions with the emphasis put on their specific features, extent and signifikance. On the completion of the subject, students will be able to orient themselves in the issue of political persecutions in non-democratic regimes of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th century and will be able independently to assess their causes, development and consequences for society.

Syllabus

• 1. Introduction to problems, terminology, forms and methods of investigation of mechanisms of political persecution (repression) and their victims, literature.
  2. Characteristics of criminal law and justice and security services in totalitarian regimes.
  3. Typology of political persecution (repression) on examples of Soviet repression in XX. century.
  4. Research of political persecutions: Institutions and projects.
  5. Century of camps, establish, development and typology of camp systems.
  6. The history of GULAG (1918 - 1960).
  7. Nazi concentration camps and death centers.
  8. Comparison of Soviet and Nazi Political Persecutions (repression).
  9. The Migration and Persecution I. The Fate of Czechoslovak Emigration in the USSR (1920´s).
  10. The Migration and Persecution II. The Fate of Czechoslovak Emigration in the USSR (1930´s)
  11.The Political repression in Central Europe in 1944-1948 (selected problems).
  12. The Political repression in Central Europe in 1948 - 1956 (selected problems).
  

Literature

required literature
• SNYDER, T. Krvavé země. Evropa mezi Hitlerem a Stalinem. Praha, 2013. 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. Perzekuce československých občanů v Sovětském svazu (1918 - 1956). Část I. Vězni a popravení. Část II. Váleční zajatci a internovaní. Opava, 2007. info
• APPLEBAUM, A. Gulag. Dějiny. Praha-Plzeň: BETA Dobrovský - Ševčík, 2004. ISBN 80-7306-152-X. info
• COURTOIS, S. a kol. Černá kniha komunismu: zločiny, teror, represe. Praha, 1999. info

recommended literature
• BORÁK, M. Ruská literatura o politických represích. Opava, 2015. info
• JANÁK, D., JIRÁSEK, Z. Z historie československých vystěhovaleckých družstev v Sovětském svazu (1923-1939). Opava, 2014. info
• STANĚK, T. Němečtí váleční zajatci v českých zemích 1945-1950. Opava, 2011. info
• CHLEVŇUK, O. V. Historie GULAGu. Od kolektivizace k "velkému teroru". Praha, 2008. info
• JANÁK, D. Kapitoly o československém vězeňství 1945 - 1955. Opava: Slezské zemské muzeum, 2002. ISBN 80-86224-34-1. info
• KOTEK, J., RIGOULOT, P. Das Jahrhundert der Lager. Gefangenschaft, Zwangsarbeit, Vernichtung. Berlin, 2001. info

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course can also be completed outside the examination period.

Teacher's information

Written exam - the first part of the exam is a test with close questions to verify theoretical and practical knowledge of the problem issues, the second part is a comparative exposition (comparing two phenomena).

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