DOI Artikel:
Kolbiarz Chmelinová, Katarína: University art history in Slovakia after WWII and its sovietization in the 1950s
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52521#0187
University Art History in Slovakia after WWII and its Sovietization in the 1950s 181
university teacher from the Slovak Academy of Sciences.70 The plan of the
Sub-department of Art History clearly defines two developing branches of the
held: a historical one and an aesthetic-critical one, which was especially repre-
sented by the work of Strauss and Matustik. Needless to say, the political-edu-
cational part came first and included mandatory participation in training ses-
sions, and in the case of acting Assoc. Prof. Güntherova Mayerova, attending
the Evening University of Marxism-Leninism. In addition to memberships,
publication and research activities of the members of the department, the
substantial part of the plan concerns pedagogical work and its improvement
and methods to intensify the contact with practice. For this purpose, the plan
emphasized the necessity to organize several held trips a year and called for
the introduction of a photography course.71
However, this was happening in a fast-changing atmosphere, because
the calm situation favoring professional development did not last long. As
a consequence of the crisis linked to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the
working-class intellectuals in Czechoslovakia were no longer considered sup-
porters of the regime. Once again, stricter background reviews and screening
activities were conducted, even among members of the Party, and "unreli-
able people were dismissed. At Comenius University it started in 1957 as
a struggle against the remaining members of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party
and bourgeois ideologues and others who, up to then, had been able to hold
their posts because of their expertise.72 In the following year, although it was
a period of dismissals, Art History managed to retain all of its members. This
must also have been due to the fact that it was forced to accommodate some
of the students from the abolished Pedagogical University Unfortunately, the
situation changed dramatically and it soon claimed its victims (ill. 9).
Art History, under the leadership of Güntherova Mayerova, continued
fighting for its position. In the proposed plan of work and consequently in
the activity report for 1959/60, one can discern increased interest in the ideo-
logical-political education of pedagogues themselves, and through them the
students. They stimulated pedagogues politically by means of various as-
70 ADAH FA CU BA, Zâpisnica zo zasadnutia Katedry vied o umeni z 20.10.1958
a plan prace na rok 1958/1959. Meetings took place on Saturdays at 10am at 12 Safârikovo
Sq. (October 25th, November 8th and 22th, December 6th and 20th, 1958).
71 In that year field trips were scheduled in South Bohemia and Prague. Dresden re-
mained only at the planning stage. ADAH FA CU BA, Plan prace odboru dejin umenia pre
akademicky rok 1958/1959, the plan is not dated and bears no signature.
72 Hudek, "Sovietizâcia pracovisk...," pp. 350-351. P Cajthaml, M. Durcanskÿ,
"Dobové souvislosti a ohlas provërek politické tridni spolehlivosti v roce 1958 na Univer-
zitë Karlovë," in: Prace z dejin Akademie vëd, vol. 2, pp. 118-130.
university teacher from the Slovak Academy of Sciences.70 The plan of the
Sub-department of Art History clearly defines two developing branches of the
held: a historical one and an aesthetic-critical one, which was especially repre-
sented by the work of Strauss and Matustik. Needless to say, the political-edu-
cational part came first and included mandatory participation in training ses-
sions, and in the case of acting Assoc. Prof. Güntherova Mayerova, attending
the Evening University of Marxism-Leninism. In addition to memberships,
publication and research activities of the members of the department, the
substantial part of the plan concerns pedagogical work and its improvement
and methods to intensify the contact with practice. For this purpose, the plan
emphasized the necessity to organize several held trips a year and called for
the introduction of a photography course.71
However, this was happening in a fast-changing atmosphere, because
the calm situation favoring professional development did not last long. As
a consequence of the crisis linked to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the
working-class intellectuals in Czechoslovakia were no longer considered sup-
porters of the regime. Once again, stricter background reviews and screening
activities were conducted, even among members of the Party, and "unreli-
able people were dismissed. At Comenius University it started in 1957 as
a struggle against the remaining members of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party
and bourgeois ideologues and others who, up to then, had been able to hold
their posts because of their expertise.72 In the following year, although it was
a period of dismissals, Art History managed to retain all of its members. This
must also have been due to the fact that it was forced to accommodate some
of the students from the abolished Pedagogical University Unfortunately, the
situation changed dramatically and it soon claimed its victims (ill. 9).
Art History, under the leadership of Güntherova Mayerova, continued
fighting for its position. In the proposed plan of work and consequently in
the activity report for 1959/60, one can discern increased interest in the ideo-
logical-political education of pedagogues themselves, and through them the
students. They stimulated pedagogues politically by means of various as-
70 ADAH FA CU BA, Zâpisnica zo zasadnutia Katedry vied o umeni z 20.10.1958
a plan prace na rok 1958/1959. Meetings took place on Saturdays at 10am at 12 Safârikovo
Sq. (October 25th, November 8th and 22th, December 6th and 20th, 1958).
71 In that year field trips were scheduled in South Bohemia and Prague. Dresden re-
mained only at the planning stage. ADAH FA CU BA, Plan prace odboru dejin umenia pre
akademicky rok 1958/1959, the plan is not dated and bears no signature.
72 Hudek, "Sovietizâcia pracovisk...," pp. 350-351. P Cajthaml, M. Durcanskÿ,
"Dobové souvislosti a ohlas provërek politické tridni spolehlivosti v roce 1958 na Univer-
zitë Karlovë," in: Prace z dejin Akademie vëd, vol. 2, pp. 118-130.