Patrícia Fogelová

The paper addresses the changes in the city administration after the Second World War related to the process of purge in the territory of southern Slovakia, which between 1938 and 1945 was ceded to Hungary. I intend to examine the changes in the city administration of Košice, a city located on the Hungarian-Slovak ethnic border. Its inhabitants were confronted with anti-Hungarian policies after the war, handled by the local authorities-the members of the Administrative Commission and the National Committee. These members possessed extensive competences concerning the confiscation of the property of "Germans, Hungarians, traitors and collaborators", land reform, the purge of public and political life, the establishment of national administrations, the restoration and reconstruction of the national economy and tasks in the social and health spheres. This also included legal measures against public and civil servants of Hungarian and German nationality, adopted by the Slovak National Council. In my research, I intend to answer a number of questions: How did the local authorities deal with the civil servants? Which civil servants were dismissed and which remained in place? What criteria were important for them to remain in their posts? Why did some of them continue to work for the city? In addition, how did the loyalty of these civil servants to the restored Czechoslovakia change?

The paper aims to investigate political interventions in public space in post-war Košice. I intend to identify those political interventions that supported efforts to re-code the ethnic image of the city, while I emphasize where these interventions came from, what sources they were inspired by, and who was their initiator. I am also interested in who were the actors who used public space and with what interpretations they worked. I focus on the year 1945, which is one of important milestones in the history of 20th century and which also significantly influenced the city of Košice and its multi-ethnic character. From the point of view of re-coding the ethnic image of the city, I consider this year to be crucial. I focus not only on a physical form of the public space, but a part of the paper is also analysis of celebrations and manifestations.

The Slovak Republic of 1939–1945 was established on the doorstep of the deadliest war in history. It almost immediately became an active participant in the war as an ally of Nazi Germany. Moreover, already in March 1939, Slovakia, just after its foundation, found itself in a military conflict with Hungary. These facts were naturally reflected in all spheres of society, including urban spaces. This study aims to analyze interventions in the public spaces of Slovak towns related to a cult of martyrs. There was strong need to justify the new Slovak Republic’s participation in the war. This need became increasingly pressing, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union, which met with the disapproval of the majority of the population. I therefore ask how the regime responded to this. I am especially interested in following questions: how were public spaces transformed change in an effort to build a martyr cult before and after the attack on the Soviet Union? Were there significant ...

The Slovak Republic of 1939-1945 was established on the doorstep of the deadliest war in history. It almost immediately became an active participant in the war as an ally of Nazi Germany. Moreover, already in March 1939, Slovakia, just after its foundation, found itself in a military conflict with Hungary. These facts were naturally reflected in all spheres of society, including urban spaces. This study aims to analyze interventions in the public spaces of Slovak towns related to a cult of martyrs. There was strong need to justify the new Slovak Republic's participation in the war. This need became increasingly pressing, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union, which met with the disapproval of the majority of the population. I therefore ask how the regime responded to this. I am especially interested in following questions: how were public spaces transformed change in an effort to build a martyr cult before and after the attack on the Soviet Union? Were there significant interventions in connection with this event (the declaration of war against the USSR)? Had the symbol of a martyr or a soldier changed, and if so, how? The study is organized chronologically. I analyze interventions in public spaces during the so-called Little War in March 1939, at the moment of entry into the war against Poland in September 1939, and at the moment of entry into the war against the USSR in June 1941. I examine interventions on architecture-material level which involved the renaming streets and the creation of memorials. I also focus on perceptions of the street as a "stage" for military parades or ceremonies in the course of which soldiers were awarded decorations.

Zvyk búrať staré pamätníky a stavať namiesto nich nové je starý ako ľudská civilizácia. Táto rozporuplná činnosť sa nevyhla ani územiu dnešného Slovenska. Ktoré pamätníky dokázali prežiť turbulentné zmeny posledného storočia a čie sochy boli, naopak, nekompromisne odstraňované?

Teória verejného priestoru je postavená na dichotómii – verejný priestor ako fyzické miesto vs. verejný priestor ako systém vzťahov a procesov. Cieľom tohto príspevku je ukázať ako môže historik pracovať s uvedenými rozdielnymi prístupmi. Prostredníctvom konceptu, ktorý definuje verejný priestor ako vysoko štruktúrovaný a komplexný proces, vie historik identifikovať konkrétne zásahy politiky do mestského priestoru a interpretovať tak politický, hospodársky a spoločenský vývoj v mestách. Prostredníctvom štruktúrovaného výskumu je zároveň možné určiť, ktoré aspekty verejného priestoru boli pre politický režim v skúmanom období dôležité. Takýto prístup umožní zároveň lepšie vnímať rozdiel medzi intervenciami do verejného priestoru vyplývajúcimi z centrálnych pokynov politického režimu a zásahmi zo strany regionálnej správy a pomôže identifikovať procesy kontinuity resp. diskontinuity zásahov. V neposlednom rade uvedený prístup ponúka možnosti hlbšieho výskumu vzťahu politiky a miest. Teoretický koncept verejného priestoru je doplnený konkrétnymi výskumnými otázkami, ktoré sa týkajú obdobia Slovenskej republiky 1939 –1945.

The aim of contribution is to handle the topic of social oriented housing construction in the period of Slovak Republic 1939 – 1945. The selected period as a interlude between left-engaged architecture of interwar Czechoslovakia and mass social housing construction after 1945, remains still unnoticed. However, Slovak state enforced its own concept of housing policy. The introduction of essential legislative framework of social housing in the selected period, will allow to identify what measures were admitted and why. Therefore the paper emphasizes the ideological background of housing construction. Hypothesis that social housing were intended not only to poorest, but primarily to civil servants is the core of our contribution. The introduction of the process of housing construction in the case study of Prešov city will follow. The choice of this particular city is based on the fact, that Prešov became the biggest town of eastern Slovakia, the regional administration centre and the seat of many important institutions.

The author of the book under review, Chad Bryant, is a historian at the University of North Carolina. His research focus is urban history, specializing particularly in the history of Prague. The book, which was published in 2021 by Harvard University Press, is thus partly a continuation of his previous works. In the book under review, the author looks at the history of Prague through the lives of five different people. In contrast to his previous research-here I am thinking in particular of the book Prague in Black-the author tries to capture the history of this city over a longer time frame, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.