Undone from Within: The Downfall of Rudolf Slánský and Czechoslovak-Soviet Dynamics under Stalinism

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 13:00 p.m.

Organised by: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, Institute of Contemporary History (USD)/Czech Academy of Sciences
Supported by American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

On November 27, 1952, a Czechoslovak court sentenced Rudolf Slánský and ten other prominent party men to death following trial laced with antisemitic tropes. Historians have traditionally understood the Slánský affair as a predominantly foreign import imposed on Czechoslovakia by Soviet advisors and Josef Stalin.
Our book project, by contrast, argues that local, intra-party dynamics within Czechoslovakia and rivalries within the Communist bloc best explain events leading up to the trial. Drawing upon previously unexamined archival materials located in Moscow and Prague, as well as newly published memoirs, our study also provides a fresh perspective on the Czechoslovak Communist Party's relationship with the Soviet Union more broadly.

Programme

Friday, 30 September 2022

10 – 11 a.m.
Presentation of the book project “Undone from Within: The Downfall of Rudolf Slánský and Czechoslovak-Soviet Dynamics under Stalinism”
by Chad Bryant (UNC, Chapel Hill) and Kateřina Čapková (USD, Prague)

11 – 11:15 a.m. | coffee break

11:15 a.m. – 13 p.m.
Discussion of an yet unpublished article in the Journal for Modern History.