Czechoslovakia 1918-1992

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EuroDocs > History of Slovakia: Primary Documents > Czechoslovakia 1918-1992

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• Modern Dejiny: Modern History Anthology

Historical sources regarding 20th century Czechoslovakia.

Includes oral accounts, texts, and facsimiles.

(20th century; Czech interface, facsimiles, transcriptions, and audio)

• Memory of Nations: 20th Century

Oral first-hand accounts of major events in 20th century Czechoslovakia.

Browse the accounts here.

Also available as video here.

(1901-2014; Czech audio, video, and interface)

• Government Transport Department Records

Records of trains, buses, airlines in Czechoslovakia.

(1908-1952; Czech facsimiles)

• Declaration of the independence of Czechoslovakia

(18 October 1918; facsimile in Czech)

• Temporary Constitution of Czechoslovak Republic

(13 November 1918; transcription in Czech)

• Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Treaty between Allies and Austria at the end of WWI. This established Czechoslovakia as an internationally recognized state.

(September 10, 1919; English)

• Declaration of members of the historic nobility, delivered 17 September 1938 to President Edvard Benes

(1938; English)

• Records of Management of Intelligence Officials in Czechoslovakia

Records of individual officials and their comings and goings.

Click on link under "OEČ" to access record.

(1933-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Records of Security of Intelligence Officials in Czechoslovakia

Records of individual officials and their comings and goings.

Click on link under "OEČ" to access record.

(1933-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Documentation of those shot on western border of Czechoslovakia

Includes laws relating to border security.

Also includes biographies and birth/death dates and places for those shot.

(6 October 1948 - 1989; Czech interface, facsimiles, and transcriptions]

• Projects at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

Includes documentation projects with biographies and names of regime victims.

Site also includes documents about Czechoslovakia's cooperation with other Eastern Bloc states.

(1948-1989; Czech transcriptions, facsimiles)

• Czechoslovak Documentation Centre

Documents from a non-profit organization dedicated preserving records on Czechoslovak resistance to communism.

(1948-1989; Czech)

• Treaty of Trianon

Treaty between Allies and Hungary at the end of WWI. Established the border between Hungary and the newly formed state of Czechoslovakia.

(June 4, 1920 ;English)

• Constitutional Charter of Czecho-Slovak Republic

(February 29, 1920; transcription in Czech)

• Hungary-USSR Boundary Study

Including treaties affecting the Hungarian border from the Treaty of Trianon to the Moscow Agreement.

Published by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, US Department of State

(1920-1945; facsimiles)

• Facism and WWII Documents from Czechoslovakia

(1922-1945; Czech transcriptions)

• Scriptum

Samizdat journals.

Writings from exile, including diaries.

Other journals and writings.

(1932-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Holocaust in Czechoslovakia

Site contains documents from Holocaust in Czechoslovakia and other resources.

(1932 – 1945; Slovak and Czech facsimiles)

• Centropa Slovakia: Oral Jewish History

Database of interviews with Jewish people from Slovakia.

Includes facsimiles of official documents.

Explore the database by family name, city.

Advanced search here.

(photos, English transcriptions, Slovak facsimiles)

• Jewish Museum Czechoslovakia Collections

Documents and photos.

(1938-1945; Czech facsimiles)

• Lord Runciman's report of negotiations with Germany

(21 September 1938; Czech transcription)

• Oppression Period

Records of Czechoslovakia under Nazi control, includes documentation of persecution of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia.

(1938-1945; photos, Czech facsimiles)

• Map of Czechoslovakia in 1939

(1939; image, Czech transcription)

• Records from Czechoslovakia from 1939-1945

Includes documents, such as laws and regulations, as well as other data resources relating to anti-Soviet struggles and persecution of Jewish people.

(1939-1945; Slovak transcriptions)

• Regulation of the Jewish people

(April 18, 1939; Slovak transcription)

• Statute of Slovakia

(July 31, 1939; Slovak transcription)

• Map of Slovakia

(1941; image, English transcription)

• Governmental regulation of legal status of Jewish people

(September 9, 1941; Slovak transcription)

• Constitutional law about banishment of Jewish people

(May 15, 1942; Slovak transcription)

• Records from Czechoslovakia from 1945-1989

Includes documents, such as laws and regulations, as well as other data resources relating to anti-Soviet struggles and persecution of Jewish people.

Some records relate to the StB (secret police) in Czechoslovakia.

(1939-1945; Slovak transcriptions)

• Records from StB

Database searches multiple archives.

(30 June 1945 - 1 February 1990; Czech facsimiles)

• Laws and international treaties of Czechoslovakia

Ability to browse by year and search by subject or keyword.

(1945-1993; Czech facsimiles)

• Foreign relations between Slovakia and the US

Documents from US State Department and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

1945

Transfer of German populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Austria, 1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

Impact of Egypt-Czechoslovak arms deal, 1955

1964-1968

1969-1972

(1945-1972; English transcriptions)

• Constitution of Czechoslovak Republic

(May 9, 1948; Czech transcription)

• Relations between Czechoslovakia and Hungary 1948-1989

Plans for cooperation, meeting minutes, and contracts.

(14 May 1948 - 22 February 1989; Czech, Hungarian, and Russian facsimiles and transcriptions)

• Digital Reading Room of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR)

Includes KGB and other regime-related documents.

(1949-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Radio Free Europe Information Items

"70,292 digitized Information Item reports created by Radio Free Europe’s (RFE) News and Information Department in multiple languages from 1951-1957, covering political, economic, social and cultural issues behind the Iron Curtain. The Items concerned topics ranging from official Communist Party and state apparatus organization to micro-level practices of everyday life."

Items were "processed by national evaluation units for Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania."

From the OSA Archive Digital Repository.

(1951-1957; English, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, French, Romanian, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Georgian facsimiles)

• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Background Reports

Reports on developments in the communist world.

"18,224 special studies and thematic research papers produced by Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) research units from 1952 till 1992."

(1952-1992; English transcriptions)

• Warsaw Pact

Treaty of friendship and cooperation between Soviet Union and other communist satellite states in Eastern Europe.

(1 May 1955; English)

• Documents from relations between Czechoslovakia and German Democratic Republic (GDR)

Agreements, reports and memos from negotiations, and protocols between Czechoslovakia and GDR.

(6 July 1955 - 13 March 1989; Czech, German, and Russian facsimiles and transcriptions)

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• StB Secret Police Registry Records 1958-1990

Registry books of citizens done by the secret police, the StB.

(1 January 1958 - 15 February 1990; Czech facsimiles)

• Relations of Czechoslovakia with Poland 1958-1989

Includes meeting minutes, plans for cooperation, negotiation protocols.

(14 April 1958 - 26 October 1989; Czech, Polish, and Russian facsimiles and transcriptions)

• Relations of Czechoslovakia with USSR 1958-1988

Agreements, reports of meetings, reports of negotiations, and plans for cooperation.

Also includes reports of joint measures carried about by Czechoslovakia and USSR.

(1958-1988; Czech and Russian facsimiles)

• Constitution of Czechoslovak Republic

(July 11, 1960; Czech transcription)

• Daily summaries from the Main Directorate of State Security in Czechoslovakia

Includes summaries of action taken Prague Spring. Intended for the Interior Minister, First Deputy Minister, Deputy Director for Management of State Security, secret police, and Soviet advisors.

(2 January 1968 - 29 December 1968; Czech facsimiles)

• KGB Documents relating to Prague Spring and Soviet Occupation and Policy in Czechoslovakia

Reports were an effort led by Ukraine-based KGB.

(1968-1989; Russian facsimiles)

• Documents of Czechoslovakia for 1968

(1968; Czech transcription)

• Strategic Warning and the Role of Intelligence: Lessons Learned From The 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Collection of original documents

In cooperation with Central Intelligence Agency

(1968; English facsimiles)

• Prague Spring

Site contains documents about Prague Spring Czech and Soviet government actions.

(August 1968; Czech transcription, video)

• Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Documents regarding the Soviet response to the 1968 Prague Spring.

Part of the Wilson Center's Digital Archive of the Cold War.

(28 February to 26 November 1968; transcriptions and facsimiles)

• Audio from 1968 Warsaw Pact Invasion

Reports from the occupation, statements by political leaders.

(21-2 August 1968; Czech and Russian MP3 files)

• Pages devoted to the events in Czechoslovakia of 1968 and 1969

(1968-1969; photos, Czech facsimiles)

• Making the History of 1989: Primary Sources Czechoslovakia

Collected primary documents from the end of the Cold War.

(1980s; English)

• Making the History of 1989: Primary Sources Slovakia

Collected primary documents from the end of the Cold War.

(1980s; English)

• Czechoslovak Civil Society Documents

Documents from the last years of communist Czechoslovakia.

(1987-1989; Czech transcriptions)

• Jan Palach Documents

Letters of Jan Palach and related government documents.

(1969-1974; Czech transcriptions)

• Documents regarding Jan Palach

(6 January 1969-21 February 1989; Czech facsimiles with English translations)

• Video footage from August 1969 Protests

Military intervention on demonstrations.

(August 1969; videos)

• Action Buccaneer

Operations between Czechoslovakia and its embassy in Turkey controlled by "Buccaneer," a code name for Alexander Dubcek.

(29 December 1969 - 24 June 1970; Czech facsimiles)

• Non-periodical publications of the Central Committee of the Communist Party

Intra-party communication documents related to consolidation of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia, mainly personnel policy.

(1970-1972; Czech facsimiles)

• Agreement on secret telegraph line between Romania and Czechoslovakia

Agreement and rules.

(20 August 1974; Romanian and Czech facsimiles)

• VKR-KGB coordination

Plans and protocols for coordination between the KGB and the VKR (Czechoslovak Ministry of Interior.

(1976-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Charter 77

Text outlining political dissident movement in Czechoslovakia.

Complete list of signatories found here, and each name links to a digitized facsimile of its original.

(1977 to January 1977; Czech transcription, facsimiles)

• Charter 77 - Documenting the Landmark Human Rights Declaration

Original Signature Cards, Secret Police Files, U.S. Intelligence Reports Published for First Time

(1977; English; PDFs)

• Documents from Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted

Includes collection of samizdat publications.

(1977-1990; Czech facsimiles)

• Intraparty documents from CPC Central Committee

Communication between grassroots organizations to the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Documents discuss "information about the political situation in the regions and moods Communist Party members and other residents, the activities of the lower party organs and activities of basic party organizations, especially the member meetings on implementation of some important tasks."

(1979-1989; Czech facsimiles)

• Documents from Candle Demonstration

(25 March 1988; Czech facsimiles)

• 1989 Events in Czechoslovakia

Includes situation reports, personnel reports, minutes from meetings of Ministry of Interior.

Documents from international cooperation of Communist intelligence groups also included.

Photos, interviews and other video footage located halfway down page.

Integrates primary source documents into a chronological timeline of events.

(1988-1989; videos, photos, Czech, Russian, Hungarian, German, and Polish facsimiles and transcriptions)

• Documents from 1989 events in Czechoslovakia

Click on the various locations to see related documents.

(Czech facsimiles; 1989)

• Jan Palach Week, 1989: The Beginning of the End for Czechoslovak Communism

Documents from Secret Police, Party, and Dissidents

(1989; English; PDFs)

• 1989 Footage

Czechoslovakia/W. Germany: Refugees

East German Refugees

Velvet Republic

Czechoslovakia Soviet Pull-Out

In cooperation with AP Archive

(1989; Czech and English; video)

• Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia

(February 26, 1990; Czech transcription)

• Brioni Declaration

Document signed by states in the Balkans to facilitate further negotiations during the breakup of Yugoslavia.

(July 18, 1991, English translation)

• Intermediate Europe: Czechoslovakia Index

Collection of historical maps of Europe.

(facsimiles; Hungarian)

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EuroDocs > History of Slovakia: Primary Documents > Czechoslovakia 1918-1992

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EuroDocs Creator: Richard Hacken, European Studies Librarian,
Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.
Feel free to get in touch: eurodocs @ byu.edu