Česká historiografie ve světle sjezdů historiků v letech 1993-2011

This study is an expanded text of the opening address to the 10th Congress of Czech Historians held in Ostrava in September 2011. The author, as a?long-term Committee member of the Association of Historians (since 1992) and the Association?s Chairman in the years 2005?2011, aims to present a?retrospective analysis of the relationship between the social development in the Czech Republic after 1989 and the preparation and the course of four nationwide Congresses of Historians which took place between 1993?2011. He objectively records documented differences during the organisational preparation of the individual congresses and their programme contents, in addition to listing a?number of important factual connections which, one would, potentially, be unable to reconstruct from preserved documents in the future. In his conclusion he contemplates the results of the latest Ostrava Congress in September 2011, at which, also based on their expertise, Czech historians identified tangible expressions of a?social crisis, manifesting themselves in a?form of radicalization of Czech society, amongst other things.