General Information

Author/Creator

Roubal, Petr, 1975-

Language

English.

Published

Prague : Karolinum Press ; Institute of Contemporary History, 2019.

Physical Description

424 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.

Contents/Summary

Summary

Every five years from 1955 to 1985, mass Czechoslovak gymnastic demonstrations and sporting parades called Spartakiads were held to mark the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia. Involving hundreds of thousands of male and female performers of all ages and held in the world’s largest stadium—a space built expressly for this purpose—the synchronized and unified movements of the Czech citizenry embodied, quite literally, the idealized Socialist people: a powerful yet pliant force directed by the regime. This book explores the political, social, and aesthetic dimensions of these mass physical demonstrations, with a particular focus on their roots in the völkisch nationalism of the German Turner movement and the Czech Sokol gymnastic tradition. Featuring an abundance of photographs, Spartakiads takes a new approach to Communist history by opening a window onto the mentality and mundanity behind the Iron Curtain.

Subjects

Subject

Gymnastics > Czechoslovakia.

Bibliographic Information

Responsibility

Petr Roubal ; [translated by Dan Morgan].

Series

Václav Havel series

Note

Originally published in Czech as Československé spartakiády, Prague, 2016.

ISBN

9788024638515

9788072852352

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Collection	Call Number	Volume Info	Shelving Location	Public Note
Book	OSA Archivum Library	General collection	796.44 ROU		OSA Repository	-

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