Seven Slovak Women by Josette Baer

Author:Josette Baer [Baer, Josette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Slovakia, Women, Politics
ISBN: 9783838267081
Publisher: Ibidem Press
Published: 2015-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

IV. 5 Conclusion

At the end of 1968, it was quite obvious that the government could not continue the reform course; after Husák's election as General Secretary in April 1969 the Party machinery intensified its pressure.[256]

Censorship was not yet officially re-introduced, but the Party organs found a way of controlling the mass media. Kultúrny život had been shut down already in September 1968; Czech and Slovak journalists and their professional organizations expressed their support for the government's line, caving in to political pressure. The weekly Nové slovo (New Word) became the platform of the normalizers.

Party members had to undergo verification; if they refused to openly express their approval of the "international assistance [internacionálnou pomocou] of August 1968" they lost their Party card, and as a consequence, their jobs in the state administration, factories, educational institutions and army.[257] They were then employed in jobs they were over-qualified for and received a significantly lower salary. The higher positions were filled with personnel less qualified but reliable in political terms.

The purges did not hit the Slovaks as hard as the Czechs; while many Czech intellectuals were condemned to manual labour, for example Havel, who worked in a brewery in Trutnov, the Slovak intellectuals were able to find niches. The politically persecuted lost their positions at the Academy of Sciences, the universities, technical universities and schools but they could find employment at libraries and museums, which left them at least a minimal chance of continuing to use their professional qualifications in private.[258] The ban on publication hit the Slovaks and Czechs scientists and intellectuals equally hard.

Anna's academic career was practically finished with the invasion, not only because she had actively participated in the reform politics in 1968. While some two hundred historians had been fired in the Czech part, she was still employed at Comenius University and a member of the board of the Slovak Historical Society (výbor Slovenskej historickej spoločnosti); in this function, she wrote a letter to the chairman in May 1970:

"I am concerned about the future work and subsistence of our fellow historians, whose downgrading to positions they are over-qualified for is not only damaging them on a personal level, … but is also damaging historiography as an academic subject. Since the Czech colleagues are already in a desperate situation, I would like to suggest, indeed, to ask that you … find an appropriate way of expressing your opinion about the future development of Czechoslovak historiography. I would like to hope that you stand up for those persecuted for their views … enabling them to continue their scientific work."[259]

She did not have to wait long for an answer: she was sacked and lost her Party membership the very same year. She managed to find employment as chief archivist at the Slovak State Scientific Archive (Slovenský štátný vedecký archív) in Bratislava on 1 February 1971. Naturally, she was banned from publishing, but continued her research in private. Her manuscript The End of the Political Parties, Professional Organizations and Associations in the Years 1938–1940

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