VZNIK VLÁDNÍHO NAŘÍZENÍ O ARCHEOLOGICKÝCH PAMÁTKÁCH Z ROKU 1941 V PROTEKTORÁTU ČECHY A MORAVA

The Government decree on archaeological monuments issued in 1941 was the first legislative regulation in the Czech lands relating not only to archaeological heritage but to historical monuments in general. Starting from the initiative of Lothar Zotz, the work on the regulation proceeded from the summer of 1940 onwards under the supervision of the Reichsprotektor Office and in cooperation with the Ministry of Schooling and National Education as well as with Jaroslav Böhm, the director of the Archaeological Institute. In January 1941, the Reichsprotektor Office presented its outline to the Protectorate Government, which approved it after some internal discussion in July 1941. It came into force when it was officially published in July 1941. However, the implementation rules which were to be subsequently enlarged were ultimately not approved and work on them was postponed indefinitely in 1943. The actions that the Reichsprotektor Office planned to undertake towards the Archaeological Institute following the Decree were carried out only to a certain extent. Even though a Prehistoric Research committee (Forschungsrat für Vorgeschichte) was established in 1942 in order to coordinate archaeology in the Protectorate, the work on a new Statute of the Institute of Archaeology which would define its role within heritage care was never accomplished.