The University and the Republic 1918-2018 ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** The Beginnings of Mutual Relations The anniversary of the origin of the Czechoslovak Republic is also the anniversary of Char which was a major public institution and experienced one of the highlights of its existenc inter-war period. The university accepted its current name in November 1918. It entered th one of two Prague universities, differing, since their division in 1882, only in the adjec the teaching language (“Czech University of Karl-Ferdinand” and “German University of Karl The Czech university’s support of the new state arrangement was practically immediate, sin effective in its impact. On 29 October the academic senate met in an extraordinary session after a speech by the Chancellor identifying the current academic year as “extremely memor statement conceived on the previous day by the body of professors of the Faculty of Law wa In this statement the senate “as the senate of a university of the free state of Czechoslo enthusiastically welcomed its establishment and ceremonially acknowledged it with loyal de all conditions”. This statement also included a challenge to the National Committee of Cze to immediately initiate effective assistance to the Czech University towards establishment two universities – in Moravia (specifically in Brno) and in Slovakia. On the same day the members of the academic senate annulled suspension of T.G. Masaryk, which had been forced Governor’s Office in August 1915, with “enthusiastic agreement”. The university’s represen present when the first Czechoslovak president was greeted at Wilson Station on 12 January subsequently helped overcome potential bitterness by being personally present during insta new chancellor Karl Hermann-Otavský. During the following months and years experts linked to Charles University could be seen i spheres of public life, not only in Prague. They were also members of Czechoslovak delegat talks in Paris (for instance lawyers and future ministers Jan Krčmář and Jan Kapras, ethno Niederle, and geographer Viktor Dvorský, who was present at the creation of the borders of they assumed posts in the newly established ministries and in other offices or helped crea body of the young republic. As a result, courses for consular and diplomatic services were faculties of philosophy and law, the medical faculty opened a special semester for medics- the summer holidays and military courses for students of pharmacy. The current professor o theology, František Kordač, was appointed the Bishop of Prague and members of the academic sat in legislative bodies, in parliament and in the senate. Several tens of docents (assoc and professors of Charles University, some newly appointed, truly assured the first years universities in Brno and Bratislava. In their post-revolution enthusiasm, few appreciated that everything was possible to a great degree thanks to the liberal environment of the Ha in the period between 1867 and 1914. When comparing the situation at Warsaw University for clear that this was not such a matter of course under Central European conditions. The Nineteen Twenties The relationship towards newly established Czechoslovak universities was essential to the during the inter-war period. But the relationship between the Czech and German university importance in the nationally tense environment of the first post-war years. From the forma was anchored in the law dating from February 1920 called “lex Mareš” after its translator, physiology at the medical faculty, František Mareš. The act left no doubt as to which univ leading position – the German university was to exist in Prague alongside Charles Universi the name of its founder, and was also to be relieved of the relevant claims to tangible hi in the form of insignias and the university archive. Even though the relationship between remained tense, a certain modus vivendi was successfully achieved in more peaceful years. of the German university were involved in public life in a consensual manner, including oc ministerial posts (lawyer Robert Mayr-Harting and Slavic professor Franz Spina). The material situation of Charles University gradually improved until the economic crisis. most visible trace of this improvement was the opening of new buildings for the faculties law in Old Town and the faculty hospitals and other workplaces of the Medical Faculty in N decision to establish Czech university clinics in Motol. Expansion of the university’s tan went hand-in-hand with the growing number of students, which ranged from around six thousa practically double in the first half of the nineteen thirties. The number of pedagogues in from three hundred to seven hundred in the last inter-war years. During the nineteen twent universities became a refuge for a number of students and pedagogues initially from territ Europe affected by civil war (particularly Ukrainians and Russians), and subsequently stud origin from Hungary and Poland, where numerus clausus applied. The number of foreign stude ranged above 10% overall. As well as offering education as a form of securing earnings, Prague also attracted young of a range of well-known names in various sectors. We can mention for instance physician J Ladislav Syllabus, philologists Josef Zubatý and Vincenc Lesný, historians Josef Pekař and natural scientists František Závišek and Viktor Trkal. Their scientific activities frequen support of members of the Czech political and economic elite – one of the most significant the archaeological expeditions of Bedřich Hrozný to Turkey, which received financing from as well as the Škoda Company in Plzeň. The rising number of female students had a parallel but also rising number of women in the pedagogic body. After historian Milada Paulová beca female to become an associate professor in 1925, women were also awarded a degree as assoc in other branches during the inter-war period. Paulová also became the first extraordinary Charles University in 1935. Pre-war Relations It was only in comparison with the conditions during the war and the situation after 1948 of students became aware of the positive points of the academic culture during the First R even critical and polemical spirit professor Václav Černý hesitated to use the poetic titl humanitatis et libertatis” for Charles University in his memoirs. However, the “workshop o and freedom” was unable to avoid the consequences of the economic crisis and the darker po nationalism of the nineteen thirties, most visibly during the so-called “insignia affair” of office of Chancellor Karel Domina, who sympathised with the hard right. Street fights b and German students in November 1934 accompanied by anti-Semitist incidents, were the resu concerning the issue of university insignias by the German university, but the background was much broader. The collections of art and the university archive should actually have p hands of Charles University along with the insignias –the situation was de iure the result lex Mareš. The Karolinum (a complex of buildings, now the seat of Charles University), which was used universities, remained another latent point of the conflict. The chancellor’s office of Ch was temporarily moved to the new building of the Faculty of Law after it was opened and a survey was commenced in the Karolinum preceding the planned renovations leading to the jub This work was to have been partially financed by a nationwide collection of funds initiate Domino. The contemporary standing of Charles University was also emphasised by the agitate of the election of Masaryk’s successor, when right-wing Bohumil Němec, professor of the Fa Science, stood as counter-candidate against Edvárd Beneš, docent of sociology at the Facul on 18 December 1935. The geopolitical situation in Central Europe during the second half of the nineteen thirti only paralysed the sporadic preparations for the university’s jubilee, but also the majori life. A number of excesses occurred following Munich, the most typical of which was tearin statue of T. G. Masaryk in the building of the Faculty of Philosophy and the gradually ris of students of Jewish origin. The first racially motivated measures were adopted during th Second Republic and were completed after the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and protectorate. At this time the standing of Charles University was basically unsustainable. most important symbols of the tradition of Czech learning and culture, it became, similarl in other European countries occupied by the Nazis, an undesirable institution whose days w Furthermore because the existing German university bore the official name of Karls-Univers accepted into the association of Reich universities. The formal reason for liquidation of Czech university education was the mass participation in demonstrations on 28 October 1939, during which medic Jan Opletal was fatally shot, and demonstration after his death. On 17 November nine members of the student movement, led by Matoušek, were executed and over a thousand more students of Prague universities and their Brno and students of the mining school in Příbram were transported to the Sachsenhausen co Most of them were released after several years, but of course the declared reopening of un protectorate did not occur. Several hundred students joined the Czechoslovak foreign resistance. And it was thanks to that persecution of the Czech student youth had a broad international response, leading to of the international day of students on 17 November in 1941. Students serving in Czechoslo armed forces, particularly medics, were permitted to complete their studies at British uni particularly at Oxford. A number of pedagogues from Charles University also joined the for resistance, for instance historian Otakar Odložilík and botanist Vladimír Krajina. Some of their involvement in the resistance with their lives (for instance physicist Václav Dolejš Alexander Gjurič), others fell victim to racial persecution (for instance historian Bedřic Germanics expert Arnošt Kraus). A total of twelve professors and fourteen docents of Charl died in concentration camps or were executed. There were also members of the academic body representatives of the protectorate, but they were between the millstones and never stoope the type of Emanuel Moravece (ministers of the protectorate government Jiří Havelka, Jaros Jan Kapras, state president Emil Hácha). Liberation, Stalinism, Gradual Liberalisation After the war the German university was symbolically dissolved valid retroactively from 17 Its property was assumed by Charles University, which immediately renewed its activities i post-war days. Under complicated conditions it was necessary to quickly ensure tuition of of graduates of secondary schools, who had previously not had the opportunity to enrol in compared to pre-war numbers this was nearly twice the number of students. This phenomenon to the creation of new faculties – medical faculties in Plzeň and Hradec Králové and a ped in Prague. The university also faced a great challenge, the celebration of the 600th anniv existence, which was conceived as a magnificent national celebration, one of the most impo “eighth” year. Thanks to this, it was possible to obtain sufficient funds from the state t Karolinum, or at least the great hall and the adjoining areas. Professor of the Faculty of Law, Karel Engliš, was appointed chancellor for the jubilee ye He had been appointed Minister of Finance several times during the First Republic and open support of defence of academic freedoms. He repeatedly became the target of attacks by Com of Information Václav Kopecký and resigned after the February Putsch. During the dramatic students of Prague universities were the only ones who endeavoured to openly protest again of powers by the communists, during the so-called march against the castle on 25 February of the important jubilee was drawing closer. At least some basic continuity was achieved b chancellor, mathematician Bohumil Bydžovský. He had previously been a deputy of Karel Engl chancellor and, as soon as his representative activities ended in spring, he withdrew from jubilee celebrations were negatively affected by the demonstrative absence of representati the West European universities and the first purges of the body of professors and the stud by Edvard Beneš in Vladislav Hall on 7 April 1948 on the occasion of presentation of the r foundation (the original was lost in April 1945) was the president’s last public appearanc In the meantime the activities of action committees, interfering radically into the staff body, started running at full blast. So-called student screening took place in 1949 and be exclude about 10% of students. These were to be replaced by so-called politically reliable called labourer courses. Even so the number of students at Charles University fell to belo for over a decade. Synchronisation of universities and their transformation according to t was culminated by the University Act from 1950, which eliminated academic freedoms (starti of the chancellor) and made studies subject to regulations of a more secondary school char operation of the chancellor’s office and the individual faculties was to be significantly the relevant committees of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia for the next four decades student associations were replaced by Czechoslovak Youth Association organisations. A larg scientific activities was transferred from universities to the newly created Czechoslovak Sciences. The negative impact of separation of tuition and research went hand-in-hand with of contact with foreign universities and scientific institutions. Hope for some improvement after Stalin’s death finally became tangible along with events i Students of Charles University also responded to Chruščov’s criticism of the cult of perso appearances by František Hrubín and Jaroslav Seifert at the Convention of Writers, by issu for democratisation of conditions. The student spring celebrations, which nearly one hundr people attended in Prague on 20 May, were enthusiastically responded to. Party bodies resp personal sanctions and Karel Krejčí, an expert in Polish studies who defended the students chancellor of Charles University, was for instance forced to abandon his pedagogic activit Following a short-lived relaxation of conditions, the screws were tightened again in 1956. University this took place in the form of incomplete screening in 1958-1959. Younger pedag of “positivism” were sanctioned at the Faculty of Philosophy and older professors linked t the First Republic were collectively retired – paradoxically at the time when the inter-wa Jaroslav Heyrovsky receive the most important scientific award, the Nobel Prize. However, importance of Charles University was reduced to its lowest point. Liberalisation in the nineteen sixties was slow, but gradually affected all of society. Mo pedagogues and students of Charles University gradually acknowledged it and were able to c student spring celebrations again from 1965 (and even declare American poet Allen Ginsberg of the celebrations). One of the most significant expressions of restoration of at least s freedoms was election of the chancellor, physician Oldřich Starý, in 1966-1969. And this w – rehabilitation of members of the academic body affected by the purges was initiated and proscribed pedagogues, such as Jan Patočka, were able to return to the university lecture though this was only a short-lived event. They even received the opportunity to address th on the pages of the Charles University magazine, the popularity of which reached its peak Prague Spring and Normalisation The anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic was also the year of the Prague Spring and 28 was completely overshadowed by the August occupation. The university also recognised Masar of the First Republic by means of a lecture and publication by the Director for History at University and the Archive of the Charles University František Kavka “Charles University a of the Czechoslovak Republic”, the conclusion of which was clear: “The efforts for a human of socialism are a dignified contribution in 1969 to the republic’s jubilee and confirmati clairvoyance of the great Czech thinker and statesman: that states are sustained by the id they were born.” A student of the Faculty of Philosophy, Jan Palach, endeavoured to arouse public once more in January 1969 with his fiery gesture. The funerary procession starting courtyard of the Karolinum was also one of the last massive protests against the occupatio character of the impending regime, apart from the student strikes. When important physicia was elected chancellor of Charles University, normalisation Minster of Education Jaromír H confirm his position. Another wave of purges among pedagogues and students also began at t of the nineteen sixties, which was originally to have healed old wrongs, conversely initia wrongs. During the nineteen seventies and eighties Charles University did not recognise the legacy Czechoslovak Republic, for instance Masaryk’s statue in the courtyard of the Faculty of Ph was symbolically replaced with Lenin. The natural and medical sciences were naturally subj ideological pressure. There was stronger ideologisation of some of the humanities, the sta was more significantly affected. The response came in the form of seminars in residences, and samizdat publications. The theoretical culmination was the activities of philosophers Ladislav Hejdánek, and Radim Palouš in the position of speakers of Charta 77. It was only political relaxation of the second half of the nineteen eighties as a result of the situat Union that more official free-thinking activities could be held within the academic commun number of student magazines and persons involved in independent intellectual initiatives g commemorations of the twentieth anniversary of the death of Jan Palach resulted in the so- Week, which a number of people from the academic environment, particularly students, atten 17 November 1989 and the Post-Velvet Period The circumstances of the demonstrating in memory of the anniversary of closure of Czech un Nazis, which resulted in such a strong response from the public that the existing regime c quickly, were an irony of fate. The gathering at Albertov on 17 November had a considerabl – the speakers included not only the former colleagues of Jan Opletal, but also the former of Charles University from 1956, Miroslav Katětov. The response by security forces against at Národní třída could raise questions in regard to the parallel with student demonstratio 1939, the demands by students were initially also reminiscent of the demands of their pred the period of the Prague Spring, but quickly radically exceeded them. Leaflets, printed ma documentary film from the end of 1989 continue to show the significant position assumed by references to the First Republic of Czechoslovakia and its chief representatives in the re symbolism of the counter-regime movement at the time. If we view the situation of the university at the turn of 1918/1919 and 1989/1990 objectiv now possible, we can see a number of parallels (and also differences). The role of Charles in the public sphere was undoubtedly strengthened. In the first case this was the result o standing as the only university in the newly formed state, in the second case this was the involvement of members of the academic community, particularly students, in the bloodless As T. G. Masaryk attended installation of the first chancellor of Charles University in th state in 1919, Václav Havel symbolically opened the academic year with students of the Fac Education and Sports at Charles University and the University of Chemicals and Technology 1990. Similarly to the period after the origin of the Czechoslovak Republic, Charles Unive provided a number of experts for important administrative posts during the first post-Nove least of which included Minister of Health (Pavel Klener), Minister of the Environment (Be Minister of Education (Petr Vopěnka, Petr Piťha). Charles University recognised important public figures in 1990 by issuing honorary doctora are otherwise reserved for acknowledgement of scientific and pedagogic qualities (Cardinal Tomášek, musicians Rudolf Firkušný and Rafael Kubelík, Chairman of the European Community and Václav Havel). This was a repetition of the situation in 1919, when honorary doctors o University included Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, Petr Bezruč, Otokar Březina and Al Legislative changes in the university sector after 1918 were the result of geopolitical ch not significantly change the internal organisation of the university, while legislative ch 1990 conversely primarily dealt with the issue of renewal of academic freedoms. Election o or deans or representation of students in academic senates is an absolutely inherent part operation today. Charles University recognises the traditions of Czech statehood during regular academic ho 28 October, 17 November) and during jubilees of figures or events linked to it (2009 – Kut 2015 – Master Jan Hus, 2016 – Charles IV). Similarly to 1948, the celebrations of the “hal establishment of Prague University were a true nationwide event – the only celebrations of date, which took place during the 19th and 20th centuries according to their original plan of these celebrations, led by Chancellor Karel Malý, prepared a number of exhibitions, con other accompanying events culminating in a celebratory session on 7 April 1998 in Vladisla attendance of the president, representatives of the government, the Parliament, Senate and including the chairman of the Association of European Universities. The name Charles University is currently one of the most powerful Czech brands and its art the academic environment has (at least in the European scope) usually induced a response s when the word “Škoda” is spoken in the transport sector or “Budvar” in the food industry s oldest and biggest Czech public university, it continues to be a flag bearer among its you symbolic standing is also confirmed by its actual results, including placement in the inte of universities. If we let the numbers briefly speak for themselves, then the number of st to the number in 1989 has more than doubled (it exceeded 40,000 after 2000 and ranges to a recent years). The number of foreign students from all over the world (currently 17%, whic indicators of successful involvement of the university in international academic collabora The number of faculties stabilised at seventeen over fifteen years ago, whereas one of the November challenges was successfully managed – integration of the theological faculties in association. Democratisation and a return to academic freedoms at the turn of 1989/1990 opened a chapte of Charles University which has not yet closed. If we look back at the elapsed century, th the longest uninterrupted period during which the university has been able to develop in p any significant upheaval of a political and social nature. This is not to say of course th been a period without mistakes or complications, but if we compare the elapsed thirty year preceding historic milestone periods (1918 – 1938/39 – 1945 – 1948 – 1968 – 1989), we can not become complacent in the notion that this is a guaranteed matter of course. PhDr. Marek Ďurčanský, Ph.D., Head of the Institute of History at Charles University