Presentation of an ongoing doctoral research into the history of Czechoslovak Airlines and its employees
Abstract
I graduated Oral History / Contemporary history on Charles University. As my master thesis I have conducted an oral history research among the pilots of the Czechoslovak Airlines working in the company in the 70's and 80's.
The research was focused on the daily life and work of these men but brought up many narratives the group shared and other interesting facts. As I have been deeply interested in the topic I have decided to continue my research as a doctoral thesis.
My topic is the fate of the airline after the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia and the impact of the events on the employees. As the country was sealed behind the Iron Curtain and Prague Spring died the years 1969 - 1971 were known for the regime conducting wide personal audits across the entire country that cost hundreds of thousands of people their job and many ended in jail.
The airline and its employees however were a highly professional group and ones of the few who were in daily contact with the abroad and as such they were invaluable to the strategic plans of the regime. My research is trying to uncover how they were affected by the political shifts in the country after the year 1968 and to which extent the occupation mattered to them.
My research is based on both archive research and oral history research with the narrators. I would thus like to use this opportunity to share the state of my thesis with a wider collegial audience and I thank you for your consideration.