Institute of Contemporary History

Research interests:

• History of communism
• History of Roman Catholic Church, atheism and illegal religious minorities in state socialism
• History of student’s internationalism

Education:

• 2018–2023: Charles University, Prague, Faculty of Arts – Institute of Czech History, PhD program Historical Sciences (Topic of the PhD thesis: Forbidden Faith: The so-called Sects and Communist Dictatorship)
• 2015–2018: Charles University, Prague, Faculty of Arts – Institute of Economic and Social History (Specialization: Social history), Master´s degree in Economic and Social History (Topic of the master´s thesis: Catholics, Communists and Teaching Religion; Honors: summa cum laude)
• 2011–2015: Charles University, Prague, Faculty of Arts – History, Bachelor´s degree in History (Topic of bachelor´s thesis: The Image of Bolsheviks in Memory of Czechoslovak Legionaries; Honors: summa cum laude)

Working Experience:

• 2023-present: Institute of Contemporary History of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Junior researcher
• 7-12/2022: Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Administrative work (Summer school GLOCAL)
• 3/2021–3/2022: Masaryk Institute and Archives of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Strategy AV21: “Obrazy vody: Jihočeské přehrady a jejich otisk v krajině a společnosti” [Images of Water: South Bohemian Dams and Their Imprint in Landscape and Society]
• 5-8/2020; 3, 9/2019: Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Project assistance
• 2017, 2018, 2019: National Institute for Education, Assistance with data analysis
• 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019: Charles University, Faculty of Education, Project assistance

Stays abroad:

• 10/2023-9/2024: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Philosophische Fakultät – Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde (Teach@Tübingen Fellow)
• 9/2022 – 10/2022: Institute of Political Science of the Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava
• 10/2021–2/2022: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Philosophische Fakultät – Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde
• 9/2017–2/2018: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Budapest

Scholarships, awards and grants:

• Emerging Scholars Essay Prize, Czechoslovak Studies Association, 2023.
• From Student Internationalism to Erasmus. Globalization and Europeanization of student life since 1945, GA ČR – 23-06358L, 2023-2025 (team member).
• Meze náboženské plurality: Letniční hnutí v poststalinském Československu, GA UK – 226822 [The Limits of Religious Plurality: Pentecostal Movement in Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia], 2022 (principal investigator).
• Scholarships for outstanding research, development and innovation, artistic or other creative results, Charles University, Faculty of Arts, 2019, 2020, 2021
• Cena Edvarda Beneše 2. stupně [Edvard Beneš Prize, level 2], 2019

Journal Articles:

• “The Limits of Religious Plurality: The Pentecostal Movement in Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia.” (Politics, Religion & Ideology, 2022/23:4, p. 407-423, DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2022.2144259)
• Randák, Jan – Pácha, Martin. “(O)hledání komunistické výchovy.” [The Search for Communist Education] (Moderní dějiny 2022/1, p. 121-130.)
• „To bych nebyl bolševikem, abych z boje utíkal: Příklad sekularizačních snah rané komunistické diktatury v Československu.” [„I wouldn´t be a Bolshevik to run away from a fight.” : Example of Secularization Efforts of Early Communist Dictatorship in Czechoslovakia] (Kuděj, 1-2/2020, p. 51-60.)
• “Possibilities of Research into the Catholic Church in the Czech lands in the Early Stage of the Communist Dictatorship.” (Czech Journal of Contemporary History, vol. VIII, 2020, p. 29-44.) ; for the Czech version see: “Možnosti výzkumu katolické církve v českých zemích v raném období komunistické diktatury.” (Soudobé dějiny, 2-3/2019, p. 350-362.)
• “Losing the „Universal” : Mihály Horváth and František Palacký.” (ÖT KONTINENS, No 2015/2.ELTE, BTK, BUDAPEST, 2018, p. 103-116.)

Book Chapters:

• “A Cross to Bear for a Socialist Childhood.” In: Winkler, Martina; Henschel, Frank; Randák, Jan;  Dudeková Kováčová, Gabriela (ed.) Variations and Transformations of Childhood in the Bohemian Lands and Slovakia. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022, p. 129-151.

Reports and others:

• Kurz, Michal – Pácha, Martin – Švarná, Eliška. “Obrazy vody: Jihočeské přehrady a jejich otisk v krajině a společnosti”. [Images of Water: South Bohemian Dams and Their Imprint in Landscape and Society]. Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, 2023. (Exhibition catalogue)
• Randák, Jan – Pácha, Martin. “Centrum pro dějiny vědění jako akademický „start-up“. Rozhovor se švédskými historiky Johanem Östlingem a Davidem Larssonem Heidenbladem.” [Center for the History of Knowledge as an academic “start-up”. Interview with Swedish historians Johan Östling and David Larsson Heidenblad] (Dějiny a současnost, 44(7)/2022, p. 32-34.)
• Dušková, Lucie – Pácha, Martin. “Working all Night: modernity, night shifts and the temporal organization of labour across political and economical regimes.” (H-Soz-Kult, 2020, 7.)
• “Working All Night: Modernity, Night Shifts and the Temporal Organization of Labour across Political and Economical Regimes” (Historie – Otázky – Problémy 1/2020, p. 192-195.)

Conferences:

• “Vyjednávání náboženské plurality: Letniční hnutí v poststalinském Československu” [Negotiating Religious Plurality: Pentecostal Movement in the Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia] (Oral presentation). The 12th Congress of Czech Historians, September 2022, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic.
• “Between Chaos, Repression and Uncertainty: Minority Religion Groups and the Process of Building Socialism in Czechoslovakia” (oral presentation). Dilemmas of Modernity 200 Years of Central Europe Cultures and Societies, May 2021, Warsaw, Poland (online).
• “A Cross to Bear for Socialist Education: Teaching Religion in the 1950s” (oral presentation). Kindheiten in den böhmischen Ländern und der Slowakei. Jahrestagung des Collegium Carolinum, November 2019, Fischbachau, Germany.
• “Výuka náboženství aneb stýkání a potýkání katolíků a komunistů v 50. Letech 20. století” [Teaching Religion: Engagement and Struggle of Catholics and Communists]. (oral presentation). Spoutané církve, September 2019, Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Invited talks:

• “Religious Minorities and the Building of Socialism in Czechoslovakia” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Institut Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Kolloquium: Neuere Forschungen zur Osteuropäischen Geschichte, January 2024, Tübingen, Germany.
• “Představení běžícího projektu GAUK: Meze náboženské plurality” [Introducing the ongoing grant project GAUK: The Limits of Religious Plurality]. Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Czech History, Grant projects workshop, May 2022, Prague, Czech Republic.
• “The Limits of Religious Plurality: Pentecostal Movement in Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia” University of Konstanz, Colloquium in East European History, April 2022, Konstanz, Germany.
• “Atheism and Minor Churches in Czechoslovakia 1948–1968” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Institut Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Kolloquium: Neuere Forschungen zur Osteuropäischen Geschichte, November 2021, Tübingen, Germany.
• “Religious Plurality Contested: Atheism and the Pentecostal Movement in the Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia” Imre Kertész Kolleg, Monday seminar, November 2021, Jena, Germany.
• “Religious Sects and Communist Dictatorship in Czechoslovakia“ Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Institut Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Kolloquium: Neuere Forschungen zur Osteuropäischen Geschichte, July 2019, Tübingen, Germany.

Teaching experiences:

• Building Socialism – Czechoslovak Style: The Rise and Fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Philosophische Fakultät, Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte und Landeskunde; Winter Semester 2023/2024)
• Chapters from Social and Cultural History of Communist Dictatorship in Czechoslovakia (Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Czech History ; Winter semester 2019/2020,2020/2021, Summer semester 2021/2022)
• Čtení a interpretace textů k moderním a soudobým dějinám [Reading and interpretation of texts to modern and contemporary history] (Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Czech History ; with doc. PhDr. Jan Randák PhD. ; Winter and Summer semester 2019/2020, Winter semester 2020/2021)

Other:

Languages

• Czech – mother tongue
• English – fluent
• Slovak – highly proficient
• German – basic