The story of Czechoslovak television is in many respects typical of the cultural and political developments in Central Europe, behind the Iron Curtain. Martin Štoll, with unprecedented access to the Military Historical Archives in Prague, provides contextual insights into the issues of introducing television in the whole Socialist Bloc (save China, Mongolia and Cuba), from the introduction of television broadcasting in Czechoslovakia in 1921 through to the 1968 occupation and the Velvet Revolution in 1989 – encapsulating an important point in media history within two totalitarian states. Television and Totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia examines the variability of political interests as reflected on television in interwar Czechoslovakia, including Nazi research on television technology in the Czech borderlands (Sudetenland), the quarrel over the outcomes of this research as war booty with the Red Army, the beginning of the Czechoslovak technological journey, and, finally, the institutionalized foundation of Czechoslovak television, including the first years of its broadcasting as a manifestation of Communist propaganda. Revised and expanded from the Czech to include broader contexts for an English-speaking audience, Štoll expertly elucidates the historical, cultural, social, political, and technological frameworks to provide the first comprehensive study of the subject.
Author(s): Martin Štoll
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 305
Tags: Television, Totalitarianism, Czechoslovakia
Cover page......Page 1
Halftitle page......Page 2
Title page......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Dedication......Page 8
CONTENTS......Page 10
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......Page 14
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 18
PREFACE......Page 20
Introduction......Page 24
1 The silent majorities, Sovietization, and ‘life within a lie’......Page 28
The specificities of East European socialisms......Page 32
In the shadow of Stalin’s Statue – Communism in Czechoslovakia......Page 37
PRELUDE Television as aconcept between democracy and Nazism......Page 44
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 1 Czechoslovakia – The first democratic republic 1918–1938......Page 46
2 Radio context: Among the first in Europe......Page 48
3 Pioneers of television......Page 56
Jaroslav Šafránek – the Czech Baird......Page 66
4 Television as a political matter......Page 74
A matter of all-state importance......Page 78
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 2 The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1945......Page 88
What was left after the Nazi occupation......Page 90
Czechoslovak army attempts to seize control of television......Page 92
What was left after the liberation......Page 96
Czechoslovak military television is born!......Page 102
THE MAIN ACT Television should serve the Communist ideology......Page 104
6 Context of Soviet approaches in the televisual space of the Eastern Bloc1......Page 106
Taking over the organizational patterns......Page 108
Television content......Page 111
The expansion and keeping of the colossus......Page 114
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 3 Czechoslovakia – Prelude to communism, 1945–1948......Page 118
Radio means power......Page 120
Television harvest 1948......Page 122
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 4 Czechoslovakia – Stalinism 1948–1960......Page 128
8 The birth of television in Stalinist Czechoslovakia......Page 130
How the communists began to need television......Page 132
1 May 1953 – we are broadcasting!......Page 135
Experimental broadcasting......Page 145
9 On its own feet......Page 158
Television truly Czechoslovak......Page 161
A sisterly division......Page 169
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 5 The golden sixties in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic 1961–1970......Page 176
10 The birth of a TV nation......Page 178
The helplessness of political power, the power of television......Page 189
The fall of censorship and the Prague Spring......Page 198
11 Occupation in 1968: We keep broadcasting!......Page 204
Reaction of power......Page 208
Fear of the first anniversary and reflections on the Prague Spring......Page 212
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 6 Normalization and post- totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia 1970–1989......Page 218
12 Television as the last instrument of power......Page 220
Color television in the black-and-white normalization period......Page 238
Fear of the opposition......Page 244
13 Television as a participant of the Velvet Revolution......Page 248
CODA Towards public service......Page 254
CONTEXTUAL BOX No. 7: The Czech and Slovak federal republics’ return to democracy, 1989–1992......Page 256
14 The birth of a public broadcaster......Page 258
Conclusion......Page 264
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 270
SOURCES OF PICTURES......Page 280
INDEX......Page 284
