Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed [Hardcover]

 

 

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This book claims that :

-Adolf Hitler fought in Habsburg army.
(Not true,he was in Bavarian army)

-There was no Slovak landscape on Czechoslovak postage stamps till 1925 because of Czech chauvinism.
(True.But it's also true that on postage stamps were NO LANDSCARES AT ALL,till 1926.No Slovak,No Czech,none.)

-Milan Rastislav Stefanik wasn't pictured on postage stamps till 1935 coz he was Slovak and Czechs chauvinistic.
(Again,true.But again till 1935 there was NO person on Czechoslovakian stamps with exception of President.)

-Picture of Hitler in Prague was used on one of first postage stamps in Protectorate.
(Simply not true.This stamp is from 1943.)

-Soviet - German non aggression pact existed in 1938
(signed in Moscow 23 August 1939)

-The economic crisis reached its height in Czechoslovakia in 1932
(actually in 1934)

-the Czech chauvinists introduced voting right for women because it doubled Czech voting strength
(it doubled voting strength of all nationalities so Czechs had still same % of votes)

-Czech Kingdom joined Holy Roman Empire during era of king from House of Luxembourg in 14th century
(Czech kingdom joined Holy Roman Empire in 11th century)

-Czechs first time proposed foundation of Czechoslovakia in July 1918
(it was declared in January)

-Czechoslovakian ministry of foreign affairs didn't hire not even one ethnic German or Hungarian
(Robert Feitscher is one example historian should know)

-Czech didn't let any other nationality to join government
(German parties led at least two ministries in 1926-1938 nonstop)

-Sudeten German party SdP was in 1933 banned
(it was DNP which was banned SdP was never banned and in fact SdP didn't even exist in 1933)

-Prisons in Prague and Dresden were Czech prisons
(they were prisons of Gestapo and obviously Dresden is in Germany)

-Bata factory produced Rockets for German army-
(LOL)

-Automotive Skoda Factory in Mlada Boleslav started with production of tanks-
(in this factory only light vehicles,ammunition and parts of planes were made in first years of war,later Germans decided to build there civil cars again)

-Foundation of "National committees" in liberated areas was Benes' idea aiming against Slovaks-
(It wasn't his idea,in fact,he was against and it took long negotiations till he agreed)

-Czech historians see years 1945-1948 as years of democratic revival
(no idea about such Czech historian)

-The Berlin Blockade existed in 1950
(24 June 1948 - 12 May 1949)

-Organization Sokol supported Communistic regime and was fully implemented in regime.
(Sokol members stood strongly against communism and Communists after 1948 destroyed Sokol)

-Klement Gottwald was from Bohemia and punished communists from Moravia and Slovakia
(Gottwald was from Moravia himself)

-Petr Uhl was Communist-reformist.
(He was Stalinist-complete opposite)

-She fights with myth saying Alexandr Dubcek was liberal who wanted to establish democracy.
(There's no such myth.Only idiot could think so.)

-Minister Hajek emigrated after 1968.
(No,he didn't)

-SNB was ordinary police and StB secret police.
(StB was indeed secret police but "normal" police was VB and both of them were part of SNB)

-Milos Jakes became leader of Communist party in 1978.
(ahem...it was 1987)

-In new constitution proposed by Calfa's committee in 1989 was no leading role of Communist party
(Not true,it was in it)

-Main person of Velvet revolution was Marek Benda
(Now that's originality!...noone who was right there in person got no idea about this)

-"Svobodné Slovo" newspaper of Social-Democratic party
(that paty didn't even exist that time.)

-Vaclav Havel was elected as a president by a Senate
(Senate didn't exist,it was Parliament/Federal Assembly)

-Restitution law was applied only since 1948 also to avoid this law to be applied to Jews who left country sooner
(This law isn't about ANYONE who left country ANYTIME,it's law about return of nationalized property )

-Alexander Dubcek is Czech national hero.
(Nonsense.how possibly he could be national hero after he sent tanks on his own people's demonstration in 1969???)

And there's much more what historians found(unlike me)...



Can be any historical book with so many mistakes considered as anything else then waste of paper,money and time?

It's really disturbing that universities like Yale teaches like this.Imagine some of their students will rule the world with this kind of knowledge.

There is little doubt that Mary Heimann finds not a single native person to her liking in her vitriolic interpretation of the Czech history. She knows about Czechoslovakia more than Lord Runciman and Neville Chamberlain but only just. Despite over 900 references and plethora of "primary" and "secondary" sources her work is riddled with countless errors. Some of the errors betray the lack of elementary general knowledge including basic historical facts. Indeed when Miss Heimann makes statements not backed by her sources (many of them flawed anyway) that some startling deficiencies come to light. Her knowledge of culture is practically nonexistent - thus this aspect of the Czech and Slovak history is virtually omitted from her book. When she tries to do so - then the results are catastrophic. She certainly should know who Dvorak was. Why she calls him an "Austrian Slav" is a mystery. He never played polkas and mazurkas in his (nonexistent) village band. He became world -wide known after the publication of Slavonic Dances, having composed beforehand about 80 works including operas and symphonies. His talents were recognised by no other than Brahms and not because of Festival March published when Dvorak had been already famous.
As far as Smetana is concerned - Heimann gets at least the name and years of birth and death right but that is all.
Miss Heimann's political and military history is not much better. She produces some real shockers: Soviet - German non aggression pact is placed in 1938. The Heydrich's assassin Kubis did not take poison and was not flushed out but mortally wounded. Havel was not elected as a president by a Senate in 1990 but by the Parliament (Federal Assembly).Fucik did not die in the hands of Gestapo but was sentenced to death by the Peoples Court in Berlin. The Berlin blockade certainly was not in 1950.Gottwald was indeed an alcoholic but died of ruptured thoracic aneurysm due to syphilis.
The most crucial period in the history of Czechoslovakia is 1932-1938.To this only 11 pages are devoted. This is perhaps fortunate because we are spared even more crocodile tears for the suffering Germans and the venom for the warmongering Czechs. Brevity does not mean accuracy. The economic crisis reached its height in Czechoslovakia in 1934 (lowest GDP, highest unemployment, etc ) and not in 1932.The appalling treatment of the Czechs in the territories ceded to Germany after Munich is completely omitted. Czech language in public and any Czech meetings were completely banned. So were Czech schools, films and publications.
Her interpretation of history is simply fanciful. Czechoslovakia could not be like Switzerland where cantons are clearly divided along language and national lines. Belgium hugely benefits from being headquarters of both NATO and EU and thus there is no stomach for separatist tendencies.
Many of her remarks sound like statements from the Ministry of Propaganda .She calls the Czechs "some mystical entity".
Perhaps even the Americans (including Miss Heimann) are also a mystical entity or perhaps a Habsburg invention if you take the following concluding sentence from her book seriously: "A particularly Habsburg way of conceiving of national identity - as tied to language and culture even more than race and religion - ended twice in the creation, and twice in the destruction, of a state called Czechoslovakia." (sic)
In conclusion this is a tedious, poorly written piece of propaganda. In the case of Czech and Slovak republics the Whig interpretation of history(despite Miss Heimann's protestations to the contrary) is alive and kicking. The best proof of it is that that Miss Heimann's treatise is going to be translated into Czech.

Mary Heimann questions from the word go Czechoslovakia's right to have existed. She produces all sorts of arguments to prove her case. She is particularly concerned about the Sudeten Germans who had no say at Versailles, and implies that it was the injustice to this large minority that was responsible for the 1938/39 crises. Following from that, the expulsion of 2.5 million Sudeten Germans in 1945 is seen as a most dreadful act as they are painted as victims and not perpetrators. This is unbalanced history. The 1938 crises was a consequence of Hitler's aim to incorporate all Germans into a greater Reich. It was the Nazis who were responsible for ethnic cleansing in the first place, and the Sudeten Germans went along with it.

If Mary Heimann's account of pre-war Czechoslovakia is contentious, her analysis of the Prague Spring is misleading. Surely she is being too cynical to paint Dubcek as an opportunist who used reformism only as a means to oust the hardline Novotny. By the way Khrushchev was ousted by Brezhnev in October 1964 and not 1965. This mistake appears twice in the book.

Finally the problems surrounding the mismatch between the Czech and Slovak entities always are the fault of the Czechs in this book. Even when Slovakia gains independence in 1993 Prague is blamed for not holding a referendum. The criticism here goes over the top.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A nice addition to the historiography of Czechoslovakia.
It's a very helpful book if you are interested in Czechoslovakia. The author adds to Czechoslovak history which for a long time has been quite narrow. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Miss C. Gillies

5.0 out of 5 stars A FRESH REVIEW OF CZECH HISTORY
A very interesting look on Czech history that challenges some of the myths about it. I find very healthy the controversy that books like this help to create. Read more

Published 23 months ago by R. Lago Arenas

2.0 out of 5 stars Missed opportunity
Majority of Czech historians and Czechs paint an unrealistic portrait when it comes to the history of the country: that it's arisen because of terrible oppression under... Read more

Published on 15 Jan 2010 by D. Siska

1.0 out of 5 stars The Book That Failed
Offering some useful historical insights in places it is nonetheless a nasty and spiteful book. The author presents a biased view almost to the extent of making the reader... Read more

Published on 14 Jan 2010 by Blue Monkey

5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived Early
A must read for anyone who is interested in the history of Czechoslovakia. This book is really easy to read, highly informative and takes an original perspective on events.

Published on 10 Nov 2009 by F. H. Kahir

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