Once upon a time in the West. The Hussites in the service of defence of post-February Czechoslovakia
2013
Abstract
The article describes the general context and current ideological tendencies which framed the celebration of the 520th anniversary of the victory of the Hussites in the battle of Domažlice in August 1951. The celebration became an opportunity to further spread the Communist ideology and its political and historic message.
The two most conspicuous tendencies were: creating a picture of the enemy of the Communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia and the related effort to use the medieval Hussite movement as an ideological support for building up military power of the Stalinist Czechoslovakia. The anniversary needs to be interpreted bearing in mind its symbolic value for the Communist dictatorship.