The President As the Culprit? Edvard Beneš and February 1948 in the Context of History Textbooks

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F26482789%3A_____%2F25%3A10152754" target="_blank" >RIV/26482789:_____/25:10152754 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The President As the Culprit? Edvard Beneš and February 1948 in the Context of History Textbooks

Original language description

In the presented study, the author discusses two key aspects of the second presidency of Edvard Beneš: his involvement in the 1948 Coup in Czechoslovakia, and the portrayal of both President Beneš and the February 1948 political crisis in history textbooks. The first part of this study will be dedicated to a detailed analysis of President Beneš&apos;s strategy in handling the governmental crisis and its limitations with regard to domestic as well as foreign affairs. The paper will simultaneously examine the strategy of the Communist Party alongside that of the non-communist parties, the resignation of cabinet ministers of the latter having ultimately triggered the crisis. The analysis will draw conclusions primarily from archival research findings, first-hand accounts and memoirs of direct participants of the February Coup, and discussions with post-1948 non-communist politicians in exile. The second part of this study will provide a thorough analysis of primary and secondary school history textbooks published both during the so-called &apos;Normalisation&apos; period (1969-1989) and the post-1989 democratic era. The analysis will aim to establish which issues related to the 1948 events were considered important and which facts, on the other hand, were being deliberately misinterpreted or suppressed. The author will also address the questions of how much space in the history curriculum has been provided for individual participants of the crisis, how historical reality is being constructed and how the key players - Edward Beneš and Klement Gottwald - are being represented. In this context, the text will also demonstrate the difficulty of assessing the role of president Beneš in the February 1948 Coup. Lastly, the analysis touches upon photographic and other documentary materials included in history textbooks.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50601 - Political science

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

(Non)Commemoration of the Heritage in Eastern Europe

ISBN

978-3-631-91530-1

Number of pages of the result

28

Pages from-to

153-180

Number of pages of the book

371

Publisher name

Peter Lang

Place of publication

Berlin

UT code for WoS chapter

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