Councilwoman Hana Kordová Marvanová (STAN) presents the programme of the Museum of the Memory of the 20th Century for 2021, which has begun its second year of existence and has acquired the House of the Lords of the Lords at Hradčany as a temporary seat from the City of Prague. The most important task of the Museum for 2021 will be to work on the concept and form of the permanent exhibition.
The Museum of the Memory of the 20th Century was established by a resolution of the Prague City Council on 19 September 2019 to preserve historical memory in connection with the emergence, existence and fall of totalitarian regimes in Czechoslovakia, to commemorate the opponents and victims of totalitarian regimes and to contribute to the understanding of models of authoritarian rule.
In 2021, the Museum will face a number of tasks, first and foremost working on the concept and form of the permanent exhibition. The Museum will work with members of the College and other external collaborators to prepare the exhibition and launch an architectural competition. In addition, two temporary exhibitions will be prepared. The first will be prepared in spring 2021 in cooperation with the Kampa Museum and will commemorate the centenary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The second exhibition will present the work of artist Pavel Vošický in November 2021.
The museum also plans to continue to hold monthly discussions for the public reflecting important social issues and anniversaries. "There will be a number of anniversaries this year. On 1 May we will mark 70 years since the launch of the Radio Free Europe radio station, and at the beginning of July we will commemorate the events in Babice, which also took place in 1951. Of the more recent anniversaries, which I myself remember well, I would like to recall in particular the 30th anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia and the great lustration law that was adopted in the same year," adds Hana Kordová Marvanová, chairwoman of the Museum's board of trustees and HMP councillor. In addition, the Museum would like to prepare a virtual tour route in Prague in 2021 in cooperation with the Czech startup SmartGuide.
In November 2021, the Museum of the Memory of the 20th Century will host the 2nd annual documentary film festival on the 20th century, Unbreakable and Sacrificed. "Similarly to last year, it will bring several dozen films about historical personalities and dramatic events of the last century by Czech and foreign filmmakers, accompanied by discussions with directors, scriptwriters and historians," says Petr Blažek, the initiator of the festival, historian and member of the Museum's board of trustees.
The Museum's major international projects will include the conference Memory Institutions and the Image of the 20th Century in them. "The conference, organised in cooperation with the National Museum and the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, will offer the professional and general public a comparison of important museum and memory institutions in an international context, as well as various methodological and interpretive approaches to the events of the 20th century," says Jan Kalous, the Museum's director, about the upcoming conference. The papers presented will be subsequently published.
An important activity of the institution this year will be publishing. During 2021, the Museum plans to publish three titles and prepare four more books for publication. The first book title is the Yearbook of the Museum of the Memory of the 20th Century (No. 1/2020) - the first volume of a popular educational periodical containing studies reflecting important topics of Czechoslovak history, documents, reviews and information about the Museum's activities. The second title will be Memoirs of M iloš Šuchma , a Czech-Canadian whose family was persecuted by the Communist regime. He was not even allowed to study at university. In 1968 he became a member of the committee of the Club of Committed Non-Partisans. After August 1968, he went into exile in Canada, where he became involved in the activities of the Czechoslovak National Association. His name is associated, among other things, with the magazine Západ. The third book is Pavel Vošický's The Americans in Prague. Pavel Vošický was imprisoned in the early 1960s in Czechoslovakia for expressing his so-called "hatred of the socialist establishment" and went through the auxiliary technical battalions (PTP). After several attempts, he managed to get into the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague, where he studied in Adolf Hoffmeister's studio. After going into exile in 1968, he worked in the USA, e.g. as art director of Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. The book will include his memoirs and also present his political cartoons.
Last but not least, the Museum will focus on education. The Museum team is preparing a two-hour colloquium for high schools, during which the students will be shown the finished, approximately 20-minute documentary February 1948, followed by a debate led by a historian. Historical walks (approximately 60 minutes) will be held in the spring and fall of 2021 to introduce important topics in 20th century history to students and pupils. In cooperation with the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, the Museum will also create an educational board game as part of its educational activities.
Due to the current epidemic situation, the Museum's activities are still only on the web at https://www.muzeum20stoleti.cz/. As soon as possible, contact activities will be launched.