Publication details
Poválečné období a vláda komunistické strany : Židlochovice 1945–1989
| Title in English | The post-war period and the rule of the Communist Party : Židlochovice 1945–1989 |
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | The chapter dedicated to the period after 1945 tries to present a period in which a number of dynamic changes took place in Židlochovice. On the other hand, some facts and trends remained the same, albeit in completely different conditions. The ethnically mixed town located on the line of the long-standing ethnic conflict between Czechs and Germans became ethnically homogeneous as a result of post-war cleansing and Czechization. This was connected with the eviction of part of the existing residents and the beginning of large-scale property transfers, which continued until the period of consolidation of communist rule. In terms of population movement, Židlochovice was most affected by the influx of residents looking for employment in Brno and housing anywhere nearby. The protracted housing crisis caused by these movements was overcome only in the following decades. The new face of Židlochovice was gradually defined by the construction of housing and the rehabilitation of some parts of the city. Traffic conditions and the main communication axis of the town have also changed. Židlochovice briefly became the seat of the administrative district. The departure of the district institutions and the abolition of the gymnasium meant a further shift of the city to the periphery. There was also no sharp development in the economy. After the liquidation of private farming, industrialization went into decline, and an ever-increasing proportion of the population ended up working professionally outside the city. Civic amenities and the general way of life of the inhabitants have changed significantly. Cultural life was very dynamic and rich in the first part of the observed period. Even here, however, there was a certain decline in the form of the closing of the city museum. The political development of the Židlochovics is characterized by the difficulties of consolidating the communist government in a strongly entrepreneurial environment characterized by the absence of traditional sources of the left-wing electorate. This was manifested, among other things, in the extent of the persecution of political opponents in the 1950s. The extent of the reform attempt in 1968 and the degree of punishment of the existing elites at the beginning of normalization and the process of the collapse of the communist system in 1989 remain largely undocumented. The typical difficulties of normalization governance in ensuring the standard of living of the inhabitants and fulfilling the development plans of the city are illustrated. Attention is also paid to the role of religious, civil or communist public rituals, to the symbolic rebranding of the city's public space. |