Wirth Institute Library Receives Czech Documentary Film
2011-12 Wirth Institute Czech Doctoral Research Fellow Klara Pinerova recently visited the Wirth Institute and donated a copy of the film Documentary Portrait of K. Ch., a student documentary sharing the life story of former Czechoslovak political prisoner Karla Charvátová (K.Ch.).
In November of 1948, while imprisoned due to participation in anti-Communist non-violent activities and thinking, Charvátová became pregnant as a result of rape. Upon giving her daughter up for adoption, the women meet again after 50 years of separation. Although each was affected differently by the regime, the documentary presents how the fates of both women were fundamentally shaped by the Communist dictatorship.
The 2011 film was directed by Tomáš Bouška and was created in cooperation with the College of Media and Journalism in Prague (VOŠP). The documentary was originally screened at the University of Alberta 21 March 2012.
The accompanying e-book Czechoslovak Political Prisoners can be accessed for free in both Czech and English online. To download the text in English, please click here. To download the text in Czech, please click here.
Political Prisoners.eu
The voluntary initiative Političtí vězni.cz/Political Prisoners.eu is a non-governmental and non-profit project. Its aim is to record and preserve the life stories of eye witnesses to and participants in historical events, especially political prisoners, members of the Auxiliary Technical Battalion or their relatives and/or friends.
Political Prisoners is a Prague-based, unsubsidized research initiative whose primary purpose is to collect and disseminate the oral histories of the political prisoners who survived Czechoslovakian prisons under Stalinism. In addition to this website's focus on the late 1940's through 1950's, we hold regular historical conferences, youth camps, and compile the Czechoslovak Political Prisoners anthology to enable these stories to cross the globe.
For more information on Political Prisoners and to access interviews and articles regarding the topic of political imprisonment, please click here.
Ms. Pinerova is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Economic and Social History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.