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Making Sense of Socialism through Heritage Preservation. Stories from Northwest Bohemia

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2022

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the phenomenon of heritage preservation in the microhistorical context of Northwest Bohemia. It discusses continuities and discontinuities of heritage preservation in during state socialism in Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) in relation to the interwar period and the post-1989 era.

Applying the concept of "authorized heritage discourse," the chapter describes the (re)interpretation and reception of heritage that took place under an authoritarian regime. Different lists of monuments are the main source for the inquiry, with the detailed analysis of an important site of socialist heritage in the region, the Duchcov Viaduct, highlighting processes of contestation and canonization.