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Soviet Marshal Konev’s Posthumous Battle of Municipal District Prague 6

Sniegon, Tomas LU (2024) p.353-376
Abstract
This text deals with the analysis of the removal of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev from the Prague 6 district, an important part of the capital of the Czech Republic. The given monument was built during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1980 and removed in 2020. The primary reason for the removal was the dissatisfaction of the political representation of Prague 6 and the leadership of the capital city with Russia's policy towards Ukraine after 2014, but this - for another part of Czech society very controversial - step was mainly explained by other, vicarious reasons. Given that the fate of the statue was decided mainly by the representatives of a single district in the Czech capital, special attention here is given to... (More)
This text deals with the analysis of the removal of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev from the Prague 6 district, an important part of the capital of the Czech Republic. The given monument was built during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1980 and removed in 2020. The primary reason for the removal was the dissatisfaction of the political representation of Prague 6 and the leadership of the capital city with Russia's policy towards Ukraine after 2014, but this - for another part of Czech society very controversial - step was mainly explained by other, vicarious reasons. Given that the fate of the statue was decided mainly by the representatives of a single district in the Czech capital, special attention here is given to the relationship between local, urban and national decision-making. Additionally, the focus includes the relationship between this object and the history of the capital, the current Czech Republic, and the former Czechoslovakia, i.e. a multinational state in which Konev was initially revered and posthumously honoured. The role of new historical facts is also of interest – those which were revealed only after the narrow, communist interpretation of history loosened its grip, as well as the final decisions, and to what extent the historical consciousness of those who made the final decision was influenced by the motives of predecessors from the post-war period. Last but not least, conditions unique to the context of the Czech Republic are discussed in terms of their potential application in assessing issues related to sites of memory in the post-war and communist period. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Monument, Ivan Konev, Czech historical culture, Sites of memory, Czechoslovak history, Czech memory, WW2 Memory
host publication
The Cold War Re-called : 21st Century Perceptions of the Worldwide Geopolitical Tension - 21st Century Perceptions of the Worldwide Geopolitical Tension
editor
Suchoples, Jaroslaw ; James, Stephanie and Hanka, Heikki
pages
23 pages
publisher
Peter Lang Publishing Group
ISBN
9783631914441
9783631914434
9783631871454
DOI
10.3726/b21527
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c827514e-2c00-4696-99dd-b3694b350d03
date added to LUP
2023-04-26 13:13:20
date last changed
2024-07-01 14:38:40
@inbook{c827514e-2c00-4696-99dd-b3694b350d03,
  abstract     = {{This text deals with the analysis of the removal of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev from the Prague 6 district, an important part of the capital of the Czech Republic. The given monument was built during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1980 and removed in 2020. The primary reason for the removal was the dissatisfaction of the political representation of Prague 6 and the leadership of the capital city with Russia's policy towards Ukraine after 2014, but this - for another part of Czech society very controversial - step was mainly explained by other, vicarious reasons. Given that the fate of the statue was decided mainly by the representatives of a single district in the Czech capital, special attention here is given to the relationship between local, urban and national decision-making. Additionally, the focus includes the relationship between this object and the history of the capital, the current Czech Republic, and the former Czechoslovakia, i.e. a multinational state in which Konev was initially revered and posthumously honoured. The role of new historical facts is also of interest – those which were revealed only after the narrow, communist interpretation of history loosened its grip, as well as the final decisions, and to what extent the historical consciousness of those who made the final decision was influenced by the motives of predecessors from the post-war period. Last but not least, conditions unique to the context of the Czech Republic are discussed in terms of their potential application in assessing issues related to sites of memory in the post-war and communist period.}},
  author       = {{Sniegon, Tomas}},
  booktitle    = {{The Cold War Re-called : 21st Century Perceptions of the Worldwide Geopolitical Tension}},
  editor       = {{Suchoples, Jaroslaw and James, Stephanie and Hanka, Heikki}},
  isbn         = {{9783631914441}},
  keywords     = {{Monument; Ivan Konev; Czech historical culture; Sites of memory; Czechoslovak history; Czech memory; WW2 Memory}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{353--376}},
  publisher    = {{Peter Lang Publishing Group}},
  title        = {{Soviet Marshal Konev’s Posthumous Battle of Municipal District Prague 6}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3726/b21527}},
  doi          = {{10.3726/b21527}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}