The End of the Second World War in the Moravian-Slovak Border Region: Liberation Struggles and the Road to Peace

International conference on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe and the liberation of Czechoslovakia

We would like to invite you to the conference The End of the Second World War in the Moravian-Slovak Border Region: Liberation Struggles and the Road to Peace on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of Czechoslovakia, which will be held on 2 and 3 May 2025 in House of Culture Vsetín (Svárov 1055, 755 01 Vsetín).

Call for Papers

Organized by: Vsetín City Council in cooperation with the Institute of History Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, the State District Archive in Vsetín, the Wallachian Resistance Society in Prlov, Museum of the Moravian Wallachia Region Vsetín and the Milan Rastislav Štefánik Society in Trenčín

Idea of the conference:

The year 1945 brought an end to the largest, costliest, most undifferentiated and complex military conflict in human history to date, with nations switching sides, citizens of one country often fighting each other more fiercely than they fought occupiers with a myriad of new weapons, which in the end became the first and so far only nuclear war. This global conflict was the largest in human history in terms of the number of warring nations, the territorial scope, the scale of destruction and death of 64 million people (in six years and one day), the weapons used, and its historical consequences. There is no doubt that it has made an indelible mark on Czechoslovak state, and Czech and Slovak national history. The struggle of the Czechoslovaks against the enemy took place both on home soil, where it was fought at the cost of heavy human losses due to Nazi persecution, and abroad, where, under the leadership of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, newly formed Czechoslovak military units fought on both the Eastern and Western fronts and on other European and non-European battlefields.

The occupying forces committed atrocities against the civilian population, especially at the very end of the war, in places where the liberators' troops crossed the border and fought hard for every inch of land. The heaviest fighting took place in the Carpathian Mountains, in the Branisko Mountains, in the Tatra Mountains (the area of Liptovský Mikuláš), near Ostrava and also on the Moravian-Slovak border. The guerrilla battles in Moravia and Slovakia, initiated by the Slovak National Uprising, were among the most important in the rear of the enemy. They were thus an important part of the Western Carpathian operation of the troops of the 4th and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts, composed of units of the Red Army, the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, the 1st and 4th Romanian Armies and associated units including the 2nd Tank Regiment and the Air Corps. At the end of the fighting, when the occupation administration was collapsing, there was often chaos. At the same time, a post-war self-government was being formed, which had to cope with a number of problems, including securing collaborators, preventing the looting of property by self-proclaimed liberators, also having the duty to cooperate with the advancing armies, creating conditions for the restoration of infrastructure, taking care of supplies, health care, care for refugees, and building the rule of law in the liberated territory.

The conference will aim to focus on the lesser-known parts of the liberation struggle, including the organization of the resistance and direct fighting on the Moravian-Slovak border as a direct form of assistance to citizens. Attention will be paid to the interpretation of their actions as well as their fates at the end of the war and in peace. It will also focus on the Nazi repression at the end of the war, related to the liberation of the Slovak-Moravian border. We expect to focus on everyday life in society at this time, as well as on the Czech-Slovak reciprocity that returned to each other after almost six years of forced separation.

Thematic headings:

The culmination of the national liberation struggle at the end of World War II and the liberation of the Moravian-Slovak border region

Czech-Slovak reciprocity

The role of the Romanian army in the liberation of Czechoslovakia

Resistance and struggle at the end of the war in (Moravian) Wallachia and other areas of the Moravian-Slovak border region

Unbreakable family, unbreakable society

The chaos of the end of the war, the euphoria of liberation and everyday worries. Formation of post-war self-government, communication with advancing armies, restoration of infrastructure, supply, health care, care for refugees, building the rule of law in liberated regions, mostly mountainous territory.

The artistic and media picture of the resistance and the end of the war over time.

Museum work

The young generation is applying itself to research

Organisational guidelines:

Please send abstracts of up to 150 words, together with a working description (up to 50 words) by 28 February 2025 to the following e-mail address: voracek@hiu.cas.cz

Length of papers up to 20 minutes. The conference organizers will notify you about the acceptance of your paper by March 15, 2025. Applications of other participants (without papers) for the conference should be sent by April 28, 2025.

Conference Organizing and Program Committee:

PhDr. Emil Voráček, DrSc. (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences), Ing. Ondřej Fabián (Tomas Bata University Zlín), PhDr. Tomáš Baletka, Ph.D. (SOkA Vsetín), Daniel Gargulák (VOS Prlov), Ing. Milan Kristek (VOS). 

Questions regarding the konference: PhDr. Emil Voráček, DrSc. voracek@hiu.cas.cz

Conference languages: Czech, Slovak, English (translation of keynote speaches)

Change of program reserved.