ŘEZNÍK, Miloš – ROSENBAUM, Katja (eds.): Die ČSSR und die DDR im historischen Vergleich. Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zweier staatssozialistischer Systeme in Mitteleuropa. Edition Kirchhof & Franke, Leipzig und Berlin 2014, 114 s.
This article analyzes the process of Sovietization in the particular case of prison systems in Cz... more This article analyzes the process of Sovietization in the particular case of prison systems in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Occupation Zone which later became the German Democratic Republic. Its main focus lies on the way the Soviet model was applied in both countries, what kinds of
similarities or differences can be traced in its development and what were the factors and reasons causing them. The main argument of the article is that Sovietization, even though it produced similar results, was carried out in different ways in the individual countries, depending not only on previous development, but also on the geopolitical position and specific features of the country as well as on the will of the local communist establishment to adopt the Soviet model.
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Books by Klara Pinerova
All the narratives were recorded in 2007–2008 using the method of oral history interview. The first edition was co-financed by the European Union within the programme ”Europe for Citizens” 2007–2013. The second edition was published by the Czech nonprofit organization called Političtí vězni.cz (Political Prisoners.eu) established by the authors in 2010. This book is meant as an educational as well as a popularization
tool. Witnesses of the past eighty years described what they had gone through in a very authentic way. What and how they tell the authors had one major aim: to share the secrets of those who were meant to be forgotten and thus commemorate the Czechoslovak political prisoners of the initial phase of the socialist dictatorship.
Papers by Klara Pinerova
were served in accordance with the law in force and the rules of service of terms of imprisonment, but with certain variations from the service of terms of imprisonment by Czechoslovak citizens. The presented edition of documents includes the most important archival materials, providing an idea of the status of convicted foreigners in Czechoslovak correctional institutions. They demonstrate the legal rules used to derive
their rights and obligations, the problems faced by the prison administration, the conditions in which the convicts lived, how they adjusted the environment in which they were forced to live, how their cultural and ethnic differences were manifested, and the issues they discussed. The collected documents are divided into three parts,
each representing a different set of archival records in terms of their purpose and the information provided. The first part contains the most important legal regulations determining how to deal with convicted foreigners and what rights they have. These are the orders issued by the Chief of the Correctional Service Corps Directorate. The second part includes documents providing information on the convicts’ accommodation and their assignment in prison production. The last part contains documents of various kinds illustrating the convicts’ inner life.
condemned, but expert knowledge was still highly valued. Science layed a special role in the prison system, where the decreasing importance of the class concept of punishment led to the re‑emergence of the demand for a solution to the issue of recidivism. The study points out that scientists from various disciplines came to work in the prison system during the 1960s, analysing statistical materials, carrying out new surveys and research, and proposing how to transform the prison environment and correctional means and organize post‑penitentiary
care to prevent recidivism. The aim of the present paper is to answer the questions of how the requirements for the application of science in the prison system were implemented and who supported the changes, to what extent these proposals were (not) implemented in individual prison facilities and how they were adopted by ordinary prison staff, as well as how the technocratic narrative was transformed during the 1970s and 1980s, and how these changes impacted on convicts.
similarities or differences can be traced in its development and what were the factors and reasons causing them. The main argument of the article is that Sovietization, even though it produced similar results, was carried out in different ways in the individual countries, depending not only on previous development, but also on the geopolitical position and specific features of the country as well as on the will of the local communist establishment to adopt the Soviet model.
to force anyone accused to sign a confession and learn the defendant’s deposition, later recited in court. The present article aims to
point out that the investigators’ intention was also to force the arrested person to change their previous views on their “subversive”
activities to the extent they themselves would perceive them as harmful and hostile. If the accused person adopted the views the
investigators were trying to put in their mind, the probability that they would not deviate from the prepared script in court was higher.
Another consequence of these methods was the changes in the personality of the accused person. The present article not only analyses
and assesses in terms of the foreign psychological research the methods used by the State Security, it also explains the individual
psychological stages of the interrogated, for instance the split personality, washing away one’s personality and creating a new one,
the Stockholm syndrome and so forth. The article focuses primarily on the experiences of the former communist party’s prominent
members.
All the narratives were recorded in 2007–2008 using the method of oral history interview. The first edition was co-financed by the European Union within the programme ”Europe for Citizens” 2007–2013. The second edition was published by the Czech nonprofit organization called Političtí vězni.cz (Political Prisoners.eu) established by the authors in 2010. This book is meant as an educational as well as a popularization
tool. Witnesses of the past eighty years described what they had gone through in a very authentic way. What and how they tell the authors had one major aim: to share the secrets of those who were meant to be forgotten and thus commemorate the Czechoslovak political prisoners of the initial phase of the socialist dictatorship.
were served in accordance with the law in force and the rules of service of terms of imprisonment, but with certain variations from the service of terms of imprisonment by Czechoslovak citizens. The presented edition of documents includes the most important archival materials, providing an idea of the status of convicted foreigners in Czechoslovak correctional institutions. They demonstrate the legal rules used to derive
their rights and obligations, the problems faced by the prison administration, the conditions in which the convicts lived, how they adjusted the environment in which they were forced to live, how their cultural and ethnic differences were manifested, and the issues they discussed. The collected documents are divided into three parts,
each representing a different set of archival records in terms of their purpose and the information provided. The first part contains the most important legal regulations determining how to deal with convicted foreigners and what rights they have. These are the orders issued by the Chief of the Correctional Service Corps Directorate. The second part includes documents providing information on the convicts’ accommodation and their assignment in prison production. The last part contains documents of various kinds illustrating the convicts’ inner life.
condemned, but expert knowledge was still highly valued. Science layed a special role in the prison system, where the decreasing importance of the class concept of punishment led to the re‑emergence of the demand for a solution to the issue of recidivism. The study points out that scientists from various disciplines came to work in the prison system during the 1960s, analysing statistical materials, carrying out new surveys and research, and proposing how to transform the prison environment and correctional means and organize post‑penitentiary
care to prevent recidivism. The aim of the present paper is to answer the questions of how the requirements for the application of science in the prison system were implemented and who supported the changes, to what extent these proposals were (not) implemented in individual prison facilities and how they were adopted by ordinary prison staff, as well as how the technocratic narrative was transformed during the 1970s and 1980s, and how these changes impacted on convicts.
similarities or differences can be traced in its development and what were the factors and reasons causing them. The main argument of the article is that Sovietization, even though it produced similar results, was carried out in different ways in the individual countries, depending not only on previous development, but also on the geopolitical position and specific features of the country as well as on the will of the local communist establishment to adopt the Soviet model.
to force anyone accused to sign a confession and learn the defendant’s deposition, later recited in court. The present article aims to
point out that the investigators’ intention was also to force the arrested person to change their previous views on their “subversive”
activities to the extent they themselves would perceive them as harmful and hostile. If the accused person adopted the views the
investigators were trying to put in their mind, the probability that they would not deviate from the prepared script in court was higher.
Another consequence of these methods was the changes in the personality of the accused person. The present article not only analyses
and assesses in terms of the foreign psychological research the methods used by the State Security, it also explains the individual
psychological stages of the interrogated, for instance the split personality, washing away one’s personality and creating a new one,
the Stockholm syndrome and so forth. The article focuses primarily on the experiences of the former communist party’s prominent
members.