Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Encyclopedia
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech
government agency
and research institute
, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes. The archives will also have documents from the former state secret police, the StB
.
The institute is a founding member organisation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience
, and hosts its secretariat.
was a police informant who gave information leading to the arrest of a guest in a student hall of residence. The account was based on a 1950 police report. The accused man, Miroslav Dvořáček, was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment as a spy. He served 14 years of his sentence, which included hard labour in a Uranium mine. Kundera denied his involvement saying, “I object in the strongest manner to these accusations, which are pure lies,”.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
and research institute
Research institute
A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...
, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes. The archives will also have documents from the former state secret police, the StB
STB
STB is an acronym that can mean:* Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus – Bachelor of Sacred Theology* Set-top box – a television device that converts signals to viewable images* Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP -- a law firm...
.
The institute is a founding member organisation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience
Platform of European Memory and Conscience
The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an educational project of the European Union bringing together government institutions and organisations from EU countries active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of totalitarian regimes...
, and hosts its secretariat.
Controversy
In 2008 the institute became involved in controversy when claims were published that the writer Milan KunderaMilan Kundera
Milan Kundera , born 1 April 1929, is a writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He is best known as the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Joke. Kundera has written in...
was a police informant who gave information leading to the arrest of a guest in a student hall of residence. The account was based on a 1950 police report. The accused man, Miroslav Dvořáček, was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment as a spy. He served 14 years of his sentence, which included hard labour in a Uranium mine. Kundera denied his involvement saying, “I object in the strongest manner to these accusations, which are pure lies,”.
Exhibit
The institute has an exhibit which has travelled worldwide. Mark Kramer, a fellow and director at the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies has said of the exhibit, "The Czech secret police went to great lengths to keep track of people who were perfectly innocuous. These weren’t terrorists. They weren’t dangers to the state."Directors
- Pavel ŽáčekPavel ŽáčekPavel Žáček is a Czech academic and government official. He was the first Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the Czech government agency and research institute tasked with investigation of the crimes of the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia that was declared to be...
(2008–2010) - Jiří Pernes (2010)
- Zdeněk Hazdra (2010, acting)
- Daniel HermanDaniel HermanDaniel Herman is a Czech government official and former Catholic priest. He has been spokesman of the Czech Bishops' Conference. In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes by the Czech government.He was born in České Budějovice, and began studying...
(2010–)