Cultural institutions as a historical actor: The National Theater in Prague in the Age of Nazism and the German Occupation
Abstract
The National Theater in Prague, the top Czech cultural institution, its creation and construction was the unrepeatable act of our nation. From its origin to the present, it not only represents the highest level of theater culture but has always been and still is an image of the sociopolitical tendencies and aspirations of our society.
This was not the case in the difficult times of the Nazi occupation, when Czechoslovakia had a violent military power to become part of the Greater German Empire. The aim of the Nazis was to control the Czech society politically, to seize it and to involve our theater culture, including the National Theater in Prague, in the so-called "unification process" - to unify politics and culture according to the German model.
At the National Theater in Prague, not only were the great artistic figures, but also the patriots, able and willing to fight against the violence and excitement of the German occupiers. With its dramatic art, the National Theater in Prague led our citizens and spectators through the way of struggle, hope and faith, to final victory and freedom.
National Theater artists struggled against the Nazis and demonstrated that theater art is an important, irreplaceable means of social struggle, that it is an effective tool for personality development, the moral quality that society can shape and lead.