The Holy See and Czechoslovakia 1945—1948 in the Context of the Nascent Cold War

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (106)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Emilia Hrabovec
Keyword(s):  
International Perspective ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
Holy See ◽  
The Republic ◽  
To Come ◽  
Post War ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Second World

The spectre of Communist expansion as a result of the Second World War represented for Pope Pius XII one of the greatest concerns. The unambiguously pro-Soviet orientation of the Czechoslovak government in exile and the crucial influence of Communists in the inner architecture of the restored state convinced the Holy See that Czechoslovakia was already in 1945 fully absorbed into the Soviet sphere of influence. This fact strengthened the Pope’s conviction of the necessity to resume relations with Prague as soon as possible and to send a nuncio there who would provide reliable information and protect the interests of the Church threatened both by open persecution and by propaganda manoeuvres in favour of a “progressive Catholicism”. The importance of the relations with Czechoslovakia stood out also in the international perspective, in which Czechoslovakia, in contrast to Poland or Hungary, seemed to be the last observatory still accessible to the Vatican diplomacy in the whole East-Central Europe. The year 1947 represented a caesura in the relations between the Holy See and Czechoslovakia. In the international context, this year was generally perceived by the Vatican as a definitive reinforcement of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. In the Czechoslovak framework, the greatest importance was ascribed to the political crisis in Slovakia in autumn 1947, during which the Communists definitively took over the political power in Slovakia. The lost struggle over the predominantly Catholic Slovakia, that for some time had been considered by the Vatican one of very few hopes for the defence of Christian interests in the Republic, was perceived by the Holy See as a dominant breakthrough on the way to the total Communist transformation of Czechoslovakia. While in the immediate post-war period the Holy See had tried to come to terms with Czechoslovakia also at the price of some compromises, in winter 1947/1948 the last hopes for a diplomatic solution vanished and were replaced by the conviction that in the confrontation with Communism not diplomatic, but spiritual weapons — prayer, testimony, martyrdom — were of crucial importance.

scholarly journals Challenging Parties and Anti-Fascism in the Name of Democracy: The Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque and its Impact on Italy's Republic

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEPIJN CORDUWENER
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis article studies the political ideology of the Italian political movement Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque in the light of the problems of party democracy in Italy. The movement existed only for a few years in the aftermath of the Second World War, but the impact of its ideology on post-war Italy was large. The article argues that the party's ideology should be studied beyond the anti-fascist–fascist divide and that it provides a window onto the contestation of party politics in republican Italy. It contextualises the movement in the political transition from fascism to republic and highlights key elements of the Front's ideology. The article then proceeds to demonstrate how the movement distinguished itself from the parties of the Italian resistance and advocated a radical break with the way in which the relationship between the Italian state and citizens had been practiced through subsequent regimes. The way in which the movement aimed to highlight the alleged similarities between the fascist and republican political order, and its own claim to democratic legitimacy, constitute a distinct political tradition which resurfaced in the political crisis of the 1990s.

Land Reform in Zimbabwe: a Balance of Political Expediency and Economic Inevitability?

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-29
Author(s):  
Lyubov Prokopenko
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Region ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
National Union ◽  
Reform Program ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

The article considers the political aspect of land reform in the Republic of Zimbabwe. The problem of land reform has been one of the crucial ones in the history of this African country, which celebrated 40 years of independence on April 18, 2020. In recent decades, it has been constantly in the spotlight of political and electoral processes. The land issue was one of the key points of the political program from the very beginning of Robert Mugabe’s reign in 1980. The political aspect of land reform began to manifest itself clearly with the growth of the opposition movement in the late 1990s. In 2000–2002 the country implemented the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP), the essence of which was the compulsory acquisition of land from white owners without compensation. The expropriation of white farmers’ lands in the 2000s led to a serious reconfiguration of land ownership, which helped to maintain in power the ruling party, the African National Union of Zimbabwe – Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF). The government was carrying out its land reform in the context of a sharp confrontation with the opposition, especially with the Party for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The land issue was on the agenda of all the election campaigns (including the elections in July 2018); this fact denotes its politicization, hence the timeliness of this article. The economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe in the 2000–2010s was the most noticeable phenomenon in the South African region. The analysis of foreign and domestic sources allows us to conclude that the accelerated land reform served as one of its main triggers. The practical steps of the new Zimbabwean president, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, indicate that he is aware of the importance of resolving land reform-related issues for further economic recovery. At the beginning of March 2020, the government adopted new regulations defining the conditions for compensation to farmers. On April 18, 2020, speaking on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the independence of Zimbabwe, Mr. E. Mnangagwa stated that the land reform program remains the cornerstone of the country’s independence and sovereignty.

Norman Davies. Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1984. Pp. xxi, 511.

2004 ◽  
pp. 336-337
Author(s):  
L. R. Lewitter
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
European Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Post War

This chapter examines Norman Davies's Heart of Europe (1984). The delicate subject of Polish–Jewish relations in history, not being strictly relevant to the main theme of Heart of Europe, receives little attention. Davies writes with sympathy about the extermination of most of the Jewish community by the Germans during the last war and with restraint about the participation of Jews in the activities of the Communist Party before the war and in those of the political police in the post-war period. Those who regard the Poles as traditional anti-semites will do well to note the autonomy and the scope for economic activity and religious life enjoyed by the Jewish community in the Republic of Poland–Lithuania. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, a conjunction of pressure and reform opened the flood gates of a reservoir of Jewish talent stored up in those areas, making a unique contribution to Polish, and very soon also to western European culture. Nevertheless, Heart of Europe can be considered as an initiation into the arcane elements of Polish history and politics.

Maltese ruling party may survive murder scandal

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Contracts ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Business Confidence ◽  
To Come ◽  
Ruling Party

Significance The investigation into the assassination of prominent journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has taken a dramatic turn with the interrogation of senior Maltese government officials, the arraignment of a prominent business tycoon and the prime minister’s announcement that he will resign in January. Impacts Investigation of Caruana Galizia’s murder and large-scale corruption on government contracts will continue apace with unpredictable results. State institutions’ independence and government corruption will remain in the international spotlight. Malta will continue to come under significant scrutiny in EU institutions. Investigations into lucrative government contracts signed under the Labour administration will gain momentum and others may be opened. The political crisis will prove detrimental to business confidence.

scholarly journals A Spanish Genocide? Reflections on the Francoist Repression after the Spanish Civil War

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIUS RUIZ
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Franco Regime ◽  
Military Justice ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Relative Decline ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

This article considers whether the Franco regime pursued a genocidal policy against Republicans after the formal ending of hostilities on 1 April 1939. In post-war Spain, the primary mechanism for punishing Republicans was military tribunals. Francoist military justice was based on the assumption that responsibility for the civil war lay with the Republic: defendants were tried for the crime of ‘military rebellion’. This was, as Ramón Serrano Suñer admitted his memoirs, ‘turning justice on its head’. But although it was extremely harsh, post-war military justice was never exterminatory. The article stresses that the institutionalisation of military justice from 1937, following the arbitrary murders of 1936, contributed to a relative decline in executions. Although the regime's determination to punish Republicans for ‘military rebellion’ inevitably led to the initiation of tens of thousands of post-war military investigations, only a minority of cases ended in execution. This was especially the case from January 1940, when the higher military authorities ended the autonomy of military tribunals over sentencing. This reassertion of central control in January 1940 was part of a wider policy to ease the self-inflicted problem of prison overcrowding; successive parole decrees led to a substantial and permanent decrease in the number of inmates by 1945. Allied victory in the Second World War did not mark the beginning but the end of the process of bringing to a close mass military justice.

scholarly journals Ibrahim effendi Fejić – The first Reis-ul-ulema in Tito`s Yugoslavia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-299
Author(s):  
Denis Bećirović ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

In this paper, based on unpublished archival sources and relevant literature, the author puts the political circumstances after the end of the Second World War into context, and presents and analyses the activities of the first post-war Reis-ul-Ulema in Tito's Yugoslavia, Ibrahim effendi Fejić.

scholarly journals Albania Between the Crisis of the Parliamentary Dialectic and the Dominant Role of the Government

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Sokol Pacukaj ◽  
Renata Tokrri
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Considerable Controversy ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Head Of Government

The last years of Albanian parliamentary life were marked by a profound crisis. The parliament, not only had the task of managing a constitutional reform that brought the entire judicial system to its knees, transforming the vetting process into a reform with uncertain results, but also the political crisis, or rather the political-institutional stalemate for leaving the mandates of opposition parliamentarians.The failure to reach the quorum provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, it raises considerable controversy over the legitimacy of the supreme authority and therefore on the legitimacy of institutions that depend on parliamentary votes, such as the election of constitutional judges. At the same time, when the "united opposition" left parliament, the new opposition was trying to keep up with parliamentary dialectics. Moreover, in recent years of parliamentary "identity crisis", the majority have resembled a "group of soldiers" under the command of the Prime Minister. Clearly, Parliament has weakened, lost its value, leading to a strengthening of the executive power, more precisely a strengthening of the figure of the head of government. Without a doubt, the crisis of Parliament translates into an inability of the people's representatives to solve the problems that are present in civil society. Consequently, the crisis of Parliament means a "silent people", a "mute people".The purpose of this document is the constitutional-philosophical analysis of historical memory of the role of Parliament in Albania from the Declaration of Independence to the present day. Perhaps historical memory is the key to reading the present and to better understand the crisis that Albanian Parliament has been going through in recent years.   Received: 4 March 2021 / Accepted: 6 May 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

scholarly journals An intraparty dispute at the beginning of the 1970s. The case of Pasaga Mandzic and Tuzla group

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-267
Author(s):  
Dženita Sarač-Rujanac ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Post War ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
Real Truth ◽  
Consistent Application

In this paper, the author emphasizes the specific case of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian intraparty dispute in the context of the reconstruction of the republican leaderships in Yugoslavia, the change of “Croatian Spring participants” and “liberals” as well as the so-called “senior cadres” at the beginning of 1970s. Pasaga Mandzic's years-long dispute with the current political leadership in Tuzla and also in the Republic will touch upon various issues, from plans and results of economic and urban development, integration of enterprises, organization and activities of political and party leadership to establishing the "historical truth" about the events throughout the war years 1941 and 1942. Considering the current socio-political discourse, Mandzic will come out very boldly, demanding that it is finally time to "speak openly" about the actual war events, the consequences of Partisan-Chetnik cooperation at the end of 1941, the dominance of the Serb element in the communist leadership and its attitude towards the Bosniaks during the war, but also in the post-war period. The insistence on establishing the "real truth" entailed a revision of the existing image of a "glorious war past", which also raised the question of consistent application of the principles of brotherhood and unity. Ultimately, years of clarification resulted in the political elimination and moral discredit of Pasaga Mandzic.

Writers and Politics in the Weimar Republic

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Gunnemann
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
German Society ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Thomas Mann ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Berlin Alexanderplatz ◽  
Heinrich Mann ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Post War

This chapter provides a literary and historical glimpse into the political fortunes of the great writers and novelists of the Weimar era, focusing on Kurt Tucholsky, Alfred Döblin, and the brothers Thomas and Heinrich Mann. Tucholsky (1890–1935) was foremost a polemical political journalist, a humorist, and a writer of satiric poetry for the cabarets of Berlin. No ills of the Republic escaped his witty scrutiny, but when the Republic failed he ended his life in despair. Heinrich Mann (1871–1950) was both a prolific writer of fiction and one of Germany's leading political essayists. In response to the cultural changes of the twenties, he developed a new aesthetic for fiction that helped him preserve his utopian ideal of a democratic Germany. Döblin (1878–1957) expressed his criticism of post-war German society with greatest success in Berlin Alexanderplatz. Thomas Mann (1875–1955) is a representative of those writers who had great difficulty in moving away from their aesthetic and autonomous view of literature to a more “democratic” way of writing.

RECEPCIJA I REPREZENTACIJA HOLOKAUSTA U ISTOČNOM BERLINU I BEOGRADU NAKON DRUGOG SVETSKOG RATA

Lipar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (75) ◽  
pp. 163-186
Author(s):  
Milena Nešić Pavković ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Second World

The goal of this paper is to investigate the memory of the Holocaust, i.e. the reception and representation of the suffering of the Jewish population during the rule of the Third Reich (under Nazi rule and occupation) in the capitals of the states constituted after the Second World War - in East Berlin, GDR, and Belgrade, SFRY, during the period from 1945 to 1989/1991. Relying on the achievements of memory studies and analyzing the political moods of that time and the ways of constructing official narratives about Jewish suffering in selected post-war Communist countries, the similarities and differences in the policy of representing Jewish suffering in these two countries and the memory of Jewish victims in places of remembrance and in the practices of remembrance in their capitals will be pointed out.

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