Odpověď na kritiku mé knihy o českém fašismu

The author reacts here to a review of his Český fašismus (Prague, 2006). The review, by Pavel Baloun, is re-published (in an edited form) in the current issue of Soudobé dějiny as ‘Čeští fašisté jako “naivní národovci”: Netradiční pohled na fenomén českého fašismu’ (Czech Fascists as ‘Naive Nationalists’: An Untraditional View of the Phenomenon of Czech Fascism). He declares that he really would not like to be linked to the ‘traditional’ view of Czech fascism, which is, in his opinion, now, as during the First Republic, in the thrall of the ruling ideology and political interests. The same is true of the established idealization of the interwar Czechoslovak democracy and its main politicians, which he rejects. For example, the refutation of the continuously reiterated, intentionally misleading, ‘Castle’ interpretations of the ideas and actions of General Radola Gajda (1892–1948) is not at variance with the critical assessment of Czech fascism, which he offers in his book. Unlike the mainstream, the author comes out in favour of Czech nationalism as the value basis of his historical interpretations. He is willing to take the responsibility for factual errors in his book, but rejects as unfounded the reproach that he did not work sufficiently with official primary sources, for it is up to the reviewer to demonstrate in concrete terms what has been neglected.