Contemporary history in the Czech Republic as a problem. Notes on: Zeitgeschichtsschreibung in Tschechien. Institutionen, Methoden, Debatten (Historiography on the Most Recent Past in the Czech Republic. Institutions, Methods, Debates) by Martin Schulze Wessel
Abstract
These remarks on Martin Schulze Wessel's meritorious study represent an attempt at looking at the problem of contemporary history from a different angle, resulting from Czech research traditions and a broader approach to the research field. They deal with current Czech cultural history on one hand and with the most recent history of the universities on the other and ask why these circles, active in research and in publishing their results as they are, are not being recognized in Czech as well as German contemporary history.
In a second part, the author points out that apart from the Institute of Contemporary History (Ústav pro soudobé dejiny) in Prague and the Silesian Institute (Slezský ústav) in Opava there is also the Prague-based Institute of International Relations (Ústav mezinárodních vztahu, ÚMV) and a whole range of university-related institutions in Prague and Ústí nad Labem. All of them contribute in a substantial way to the coverage of contemporary historical topics, not only in history itself but also in research on international relations and in social science.