The Last Year of the Second World War 1944–1945 in the Reichsgau Sudetenland and the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Review by Pascal Schneider 

The 27th colloquium in the Archives of Ústí nad Labem, a town in northern Bohemia, named Aussig from 1938 to 1945 in the Reichsgau of the Sudetenland, could finally take place on 21 and 22 October 2021. Originally scheduled on 21 and 22 May 2020, it had been twice postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 27th edition of this regular event was characterized by a considerable diversity of its organizers. The colloquium, which took place at the Ústí nad Labem City Museum, a colossal building next to the North Bohemian Theatre of Opera and Ballet, not far from the Peace Square, was organized by the Institute of History of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jan-Evangelista Purkyně University (FF UJEP) and the Institute of Slavic-Germanic Studies UJEP in Ústí nad Labem, in cooperation with the Archives and the Museum of the city, the Society for the History of Germans in Bohemia and the Collegium Bohemicum.

The theme of this year’s event, The Last Year of the Second World War 1944–1945 in the Reichsgau Sudetenland and the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was explored by fifteen specialists from Liberec, Litoměřice and Prague, not to mention five local speakers from Ústí nad Labem, and one from France, associated with the CEFRES. As archivists, museum managers and academics, they were presenting their latest research or discoveries, particularly in unpublished collections or rarely used archives. The topics discussed were very diverse and often complementary, concerning both economic and military but also political and cultural issues. In addition, there were rich monographs presented by several witnesses, some direct actors of these events included.

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