O R I G I N OF T HE L IB RARY

Transcription

1 O R I G I N OF T HE L IB RARY The library of prohibited books arose from the need to collect in one place and to provide wider public access to the production of exile and samizdat publishers and thus to fill in one of the blank spots of our recent history. We are convinced that the right to obtain information without any interference is one of the pillars of democracy and we strive to contribute to the exercise of this right by what we do. Because we are convinced that one of the pillars of democracy is the citizen's right of access to information without any kind of obstacles, we are trying to contribute to the fulfillment of this right. In order for us to provide this service to all people interested, the library must be private and independent. After a year of working to overcome many legal, financial, accommodation, and other problems, we succeeded in opening the library on October 22, 1990, on Podskalská Street, with the financial and technical assistance of the Czechoslovak Charter 77 Foundation and with the participation of many noted representatives of culture, including the President of the Republic. Subsequent activity of the library was made possible by the generous help of many like-minded supporters. Thus there was created in the Czech lands a truly unique and irreplaceable library, which until then had been lacking here. The basis of the library was the archival copies of the samizdat Edice Popelnice, which Jiří Gruntorád issued, and further publications acquired by him during the period of normalization through purchase or exchange. The collection then consisted of about 2000 books and a representative collection of magazines and other documents. T HE S O C IE T Y OF L IB R I PROH IB IT I In view of the fact that the library needed the status of a legal entity, on April 23, 1991, we established and registered with the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic a non-profit association of citizens - The Society of Libri Prohibiti - whose primary goal is securing the operation of our library and support in completing its collections. The amount of membership contributions is not set, and all contributions are voluntary. Among the founding members of the society were the writers Václav Havel, Ivan Klíma, Hana Ponická, Zdeněk Urbánek, Ludvík Vaculík, and Jan Vladislav. Also rector emeritus of Charles University in Prague, Radim Palouš; rector emeritus of Masaryk University in Brno, Milan Jelínek; the former director of the Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vilém Prečan; the former Minister of Culture, Pavel Tigrid; journalist and former general director of Czech Radio, Vlastimil Ježek; the former director of the Masaryk Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Jaroslav Opat; the former director of the Center for Theoretical Studies at Charles University and the

2 Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ivan M. Havel; Zdeňka Gruntorádová, manager; Táňa Dohnalová, samizdat typist and the distinguished Catholic teacher, theologian, and publisher Oto Mádr. The society today has 152 members. In addition to the named founders they include the writers Alexandr Kliment, Petr Král, Pavel Šrut and Ota Ulč; literary scholars Jiří Brabec and František Kautman; theologians Milan Balabán and Jakub Trojan; the former Czech ambassador to Bulgaria, Petr Pospíchal; Mirko Janeček, publisher of Kanadské listy; publisher Karel Jadrný; and other exile and samizdat publishers, publicists, and friends of the library. At the general assembly of the Society of Libri Prohibiti on February 10, 2010, new bylaws were adopted and a board was elected. Its chairman is again Ivan M. Havel with Oldřich Černý (Geneva) and Táňa Dohnalová as vice-chairmen, with other members being Michal Holeček, Miroslav Toušek, Vlastimil Ježek and Jiří Gruntorád, who is also the statutory representative and the director of the library. A new membership fee was imposed in the minimal amount of 200 CZK per year. The Society of Libri Prohibiti invites all interested people who can and want to help our library in any way, to become members. T HE CURRE NT STAT E OF T HE L IB R A RY 'S CO LL E C TI O NS The library consists of collections of samizdat and exile literature, of an archive of documents, and an audiovisual section. These days, the entire collection contains more than library units and over 2800 periodicals. We expand the collections through purchases, exchange, permanent loans, and gifts from friends, both at home and abroad. We make copies, including more and more often in electronic form, of borrowed materials which we lend to all interested parties for study in our reading room. The library's collection is divided into the following sections: 1. Czech Samizdat Monographs and Periodicals The fund has more than units from the 1950's to the 1980's, both in editions (e.g., Edice Expedice, Petlice, Popelnice, Česká expedice, Kvart, Kde domov můj, etc. - approximately 100 editions and publishers), and also publications not released in editions. We have over 420 periodical titles (e.g., Informace o Chartě 77, Informace o církvi, Revolver Revue, Vokno, Historické studie, Kritický sborník, Střední Evropa, etc.), and all the significant periodicals are complete. 2. Czech Exile Monographs and Periodicals This collection includes over 7620 units, representing 35 publishers which had a continuous program of editions, and more than 400 individual publishers and institutions which issued publications in Czech. We have the complete productions

3 of the following publishers: 68' Publishers, Index, Poezie mimo domov, Rozmluvy, Opus bonum, Arkýř, Konfrontace, Edice satiry, Framar, Moravian Library, Sklizeň, Biblioscandia etc. We also have more than 900 titles of Czechoslovak exile periodicals, including complete editions of Archa, Svědectví, Listy, Studie, Proměny, slov, Obrys, Západ, Reportér, Rozmluvy, Hlas domova, Text, Kanadské listy, Sklizeň, Okno, Modrá revue, Hovory s pisateli, Perspektivy, Bohemia, Skutečnost, České slovo, Národní politika, Právo lidu, Paternoster, Zpravodaj Čechů a Slováků ve Švýcarsku, Nový život, and others, including the period from the end of the 1940's to the present. 3. Monographs and Periodicals of the First and Second War Resistance The collection contains more than 90 units of legionnaires' literature from the First World War, 860 monographs of the Czech war exile from 1939 to 1945, and more than 100 different magazines from the period of the First and Second World Wars. 4. Foreign Samizdat Monographs and Periodicals The collection has more than 480 library units of Slovak and over 1500 library units of Polish samizdat; 44 titles of Slovak and over 300 titles of Polish periodicals. Russian samizdat and periodicals from the former German Democratic Republic are marginally represented. 5. Foreign Exile Monographs and Periodicals The collection has 800 library units of Slovak exile monographs and over 60 magazine titles; 420 volumes of monographs of the Russian and Ukrainian exile from 1920 to 1990, along with 30 magazine titles. Polish exile literature is represented by only several dozen publications and magazines. 6. Foreign-Language Monographs and Periodicals The collection of foreign-language books relating to Czechoslovakia and other communist countries or to the issue of human rights, including translations from Czech, has over 3520 volumes and more than 590 periodical magazine titles. 7. Monographs and Periodicals of Czechs Abroad The collection contains 600 library units and several dozen periodical titles published by Czechs living mainly in Austria, the U.S.A., and the former Yugoslavia. 8. Czech and Slovak Indigenous Publications from 1960 s until the Present Day This collection contains more than 140 titles from August of 1968 and, additionally, more than 280 other items dealing with this above-mentioned period, chosen by us for their content significance.

4 9. Documentation and Archives Documents concerning violations of human and civic rights in former Czechoslovakia and the entire Soviet bloc form a large part of this collection. It is a set of written documents stemming mostly from the activities of independent initiatives - Charter 77, the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS), the East European Information Agency, etc., and also the works of individual authors and groups circulated by samizdat, feuilletons, political commentary, occasional texts, petitions, letters, etc. The collection is partially processed for the time being over 1730 records are prepared. A part of this collection also consists of unpublished works and manuscripts (over 410 units), documents and writings about the activities of exile organizations, publishers, and editors, including correspondence, samizdat posters, flyers, and archives of photographs and newspaper clippings. 10. Reference Library - General Subject and Secondary Literature Here we have books, magazines, and other writings about samizdat and exile literature, catalogs, bibliographic collections, dictionaries and biographic and dissertation work, in all more than 3700 items. 11. Audiovisual Section This arose in 1993 from the initiative of PhDr. Aleš Opekar. At present we own recordings of nonconformist music on 2860 cassettes, 1200 CD-ROMs, and 220 gramophone records; audio recordings of underground lectures and seminars (about 570); video documentaries and films of amateur production (1260 records) on 670 video cassettes and 350 DVDs. We try to obtain recordings directly from the originators, therefore of the best possible technical quality. Since 2010, we have made very significant progress in digitizing the endangered documents (audio casettes, reel-type recordings), with the volume of these digital copies exceeding one terabyte. In 2011, we have digitized 807 GB of visual materials and 770 GB of sound recordings. T HE OPERAT I ON A ND ACT IV IT IE S OF T HE L IB R ARY PURPOSES As the time goes on, the original purpose of the library is being realized: we are succeeding in completing the production of exile and samizdat material, including audio and visual. In view of the uniqueness of some of the materials which we managed to acquire (and in some cases even rescue from destruction), and which are available nowhere else in the Czech Republic or even the world (the greater part of them recorded in electronic form), our library has a fundamental significance for improving the information situation in many areas. Besides literature and literary science, the library s collections include history, political science, philosophy, theology, sociology, culture and politics, the field of human

5 rights, international relations, and still more. Therefore, our library has been indispensable for a long time for getting to know our recent past, whose various aspects can be researched on our premises. MEDIA Last year the library enjoyed constant attention from the media - articles in the daily and professional press, including foreign, and television and radio programs. We have visitors from many countries of the world, including students and researchers from many professional institutes. About ten library users come to us every day. We provide many consultations in writing, by telephone, and by electronic mail. Just last year we reproduced over pages of copied material. For a library which has no permanent employees, this is a very extensive operation and one which requires a great personal effort. Therefore we welcome any and all help. SERVICES Our services are used by various institutions at home and abroad (for example, the Institute for Czech Literature and the Institute of Contemporary History, both at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; the Museum of Czech Literature; the Museum and Archive of Popular Music; the National Archive; The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in Prague, the British Library in London, Forschungsstelle Osteuropa an der Universität Bremen, Nation s Memory Institute Bratislava etc.); by researchers, high school and university students, Czech Radio, Czech Television, publishers, journalists, and others. Not only Czech but also foreign students search for material for their dissertation work here. We also make practical training available to second - and third - year students of the Institute for Information Studies and Library Science at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University and to students of the Literary Academy, the Josef Škvorecký private college. RECONSTRUCTION In the course of 2008, we worked on the rehabilitation of new, larger space for our library, mostly in the sweat of our own brow. In the summer of 2009, we moved the entire library two floors up and, in September of 2009, we opened to the public these new quarters, whose size better accommodates our ever growing collections. ACTIVITIES Before the end of 2009, in our new library space, we have managed to put on three events. The first was an exhibition of the works of Luděk Holub, a painter and a graphic artist who lives in Malmö, Sweden; the second event was the celebration of the 85-th birthday of Rudolf Battěk, a very special person; and the final occasion was the opening of the Polish Underground Library in Prague,

6 attended by His Excellency Jan Pastwa, the Polish ambassador to Prague. These events were well-attended. Toward the end of that same year, we have also started to publish our informational bulletin, which we distribute electronically. We will use its pages to disseminate information about all our upcoming activities. In 2010, there were three evenings of literary events held in our new premises. The first was devoted to the poetry by prisoners (recited by Radim Vašinka), the second was devoted to the poets published by Jaromír Hořec in his samizdat edition of Česká expedice (again performed by R. Vašinka) and the third evening was devoted to a poetry collection, Skein of Wire, which came into being at the Jachymov labor camp Rovnost in the years , and which was performed by Vlasta Chramostová. This year, we also put on six exhibits. The first, called Smuggled out of camps was devoted to works and objects originating at the Rovnost labor camp; subsequently, we opened an exhibit of graphic works and illustrations by Jiří Jirásek, a samizdat artist; paintings by an exile painter, Rudolf Plaček; works of samizdat painter and draftsman Michal Matzenauer; collagemaker Miloš Holub; and an exile painter, Ladislav Schovanec. We also organized a discussion evening about the meaning of the Boy Scout pledge and, as a part of the Polish Underground Library in Prague, an evening focusing on Polish translators in the Czechoslovak samizdat as well as the Czech translators in the Polish underground. Our premises also saw the christening of books by Luděk Navara a Miroslav Kasáček, titled Abeceda komunismu (The Alphabet of Communism) and Příběhy třetího odboje (Stories of the Third Resistance). Furthermore, we have hosted the award-giving of the Jaromír Šavrda Prize for Testimonial about Totality, awarded to Václav Havel, which was given by the PANT Civic Society; also, there was a memorial evening for Pavel Roubal, who was a signatory of the Charter 77 and a member of VONS. In 2011, we staged three literary evenings and seven exhibits. The first literary evening was devoted to Jiří Hanák s anthology of socialist-realist works, titled Květy blbosti (The Flowers of Idiocy), recited by the author, the second evening presented an authorial reading by Jaroslav Jeroným Neduha from his book Antizpěvník (Antihymnal), and the final one was devoted to Ivan Martin Jirous (with the Indian name of He Who Does the Laundry). His texts were read by Jiří Hanák. Our first exhibit showed the collages and photographs of Staša Jílovská-Fleischmannová, there followed a showing of the photographs by Helena Wilsonová, called Merry ghetto, then an exhibit of an samizdat author, Anna Poustová. Our May exhibit was devoted to the 60-th Anniversary of Radio Free Evrope and we called it Děkujeme vám (We Thank You). For June we prepared a voluminous exhibit Hlas domova a jeho vydavatel František Váňa (Voice of Home and its Publisher František Váňa). Flying over from Australia to see it was the publisher s wife, Mrs. Dina Váňová, with her son and her daughter. After the summer break, there came an exhibit of drawings and paintings by Jaroslav Jeroným Neduha and the year s final event presented the paintings, collages and art objects by Ivo Medek Kopaninský the surrealist. Once again the Civic Society PANT used our premises to award its Jaromír Šavrda Prize, which went to František Zahrádka, a long-time prisoner of Communist penitentiaries and the founder of Příbram s Muzeum of the Third Resistance as well as of its Vojna Labor Camp, which is opened to the public.

7 O U R RE S U LT S IN T HE PA ST 1) BOOKS We have contributed to the publication of the following: Johanna Posset: Česká samizdatová periodika, ; Minulost a dějiny v českém a slovenském samizdatu, (compiled by J. Vlk, V. Vaňková, and J. Novotný); Michal Přibáň: České krajanské a exilové časopisy po roce 1945 ; Aleš Zach: Kniha a český exil ; František Knopp: Česká literatura v exilu ; Lubomír Machala: Průvodce po nových jménech české poezie a prózy ; Texty The Plastic People of the Universe (compiled by Jaroslav Riedel); Ivan Jirous: Magorův zápisník (edited by Michal Špirit); Martin Pilař: Underground: Kapitoly o českém literárním undergroundu ; Gertraude Zand: Totální realismus a trapná poezie: česká neoficiální literatura, (also in German); Václav Havel: Spisy/1-7/ (prepared by Jan Šulc); Barbara Day: Sametoví filozofové (The Velvet Philosophers); Pavel Kosatík: Ferdinand Peroutka ; Petr Kabeš: Kámen ze srdce ; Zdeněk Rotrekl: Nezděné město ; Miroslav Kusý and Milan Šimečka: Vel ký brat a vel ká sestra ; Alternativní kultura: příběh české společnosti, (compiled by Josef Alan); Dílo Jaroslava Seiferta, sv. 11 (compiled by Marie Jirásková); Ivan Wernisch: Blbecká poezie ; Gegenansichten (compiled by Heidrun Hamersky); Jarmila Cysařová: Muž, který tu chybí ; Ivan M. Jirous: Labutí písně ; Oskar Mainx: Poesie jako mýtus, svědectví a hra ; Marie Rút Křížková: Svědectví, které nemohlo být vysloveno ; Václav Havel František Janouch: Korespondence Jaroslav Pažout: Mocným navzdory: Studentské hnutí v šedesátých letech 20. století ; Pohledy zevnitř: Česká undergroundová kultura ve svědectvích, dokumentech a interpretacích (compiled by Martin Machovec); Michal Přibáň: Prvních dvacet let: Kulturní rada a další kapitoly z dějin literárního exilu ; A nepozdvihne meč: Odpírání vojenské služby v Československu (compiled by Petr Blažek); Jaroslav Pažout: 1968 Osmičky v dějinách českých zemí ; Nejcitlivější místo režimu: VONS pohledem svých členů (compiled by Petr Blažek and Jaroslav Pažout); Slownik dysydentów (Warsaw, 2008); Daniel Kaiser: Disident ; Kritický sborník : Výbor ze samizdatových ročníků (compiled by Karel Palek); Milý Vladimíre, Milý Maestro : Korespondence Jana Čepa a Vladimíra Pešky (compiled by Jan Zatloukal); Jarmila Cysařová: Já prostě nemohu žít jinak: Česká publicistka Otka Bednářová ; Jana Petrová: Zapomenutá generace osmdesátých let 20. století ; I. M. Havel a kol.: Dopisy od Olgy (compiled by Jan M. Heller and Martin Putna); Jaromír Šavrda: Tužkou na okraji; Jiří Němec: Dopisy z Ruzyně a nové šance svobody; Jiří Dienstbier: O hostitelích a hostech; Ondřej Koutek: Prokop Drtina; Aby nezmizela radost: Pocta Magorovi (compiled by Monika Elšíková). 2) FILMS We have also played a large part in the preparation of many documentary films: a fifteen-part documentary, Samizdat ; the documentary serial Příběhy železné opony (Stories from the Iron Curtain); and the documentary film by Jan Novák Občan Václav Havel jede na dovolenou (Citizen Václav Havel Goes on Vacation); a ten-part documentary serial Ženy Charty 77 (The Women of Charter 77);

8 documentaries from the cycle Neznámí hrdinové (Unknown Heroes) about, among others, Josef Zvěřina, Pavel Zajíček, Jiří Němec; and even one of the parts of the entertaining educational magazine Futuroskop Jak kopírka mění svět (How the Copier is Changing the World) as well as the television portrait of Jan Vladislav. We provided copies of documents, films, and photographs to Cory Taylor s film The Power of the Powerless, to Jan Novák s film Citizen Havel is Rolling Barrels, and the documentary film by the French director Ruth Zylberman Dissidents. In 2009, we have contributed to the creation of a three-part documentary by Olga Sommerová, 21 mluvčích Charty 77 (21 spokesmen of Charter 77) and to several parts of the documentary cycle Unknown Heroes, devoted to individuals such as Oto Mádr, Andrej Stankovič, František Lízna and Zbyněk Hejda. In 2010, we have loaned samizdat works from our collection to the line productions of the Czech TV s O češtině (On Czech Language) as well as to the TV miniseries Zdivočelá země (A Land Gone Wild). In 2011, Czech Public Television shot one part of its History series, entitled Dissidents, in our library. 3) RADIO AND THEATER For several years we have also provided the basis for the radio program of Radim Vašinka, Nežádoucí texty (Undesirable Texts). In 2008, we have assisted with the Literary Evenings. One excerpted the works of Jan Vladislav to commemorate his 85-th birthday, the other commemorated the anniversary of the birth and death of Jaromír Šavrda. Both of these splendid productions were done by Radim Vašinka in his Orfeus Theatre. 4) RESEARCH Our research has also been used for compiling the personal bibliographies of Egon Bondy, Václav Havel, Zbyněk Hejda, Bohumil Hrabal, Jan Lopatka, Sergej Machonin, Jiří Němec, Jan Patočka, Petr Rezek, Zdeněk Vašíček, and many others. COLLABORATIONS We continue to work together with the creators of the web pages Totalita.cz, Scriptum.cz, Charta.cz, and VONS.cz, and with the editors of the Revue pro studium totalitních režimů Paměť a dějiny (The Review for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes Memory and History ). EXHIBITS In the year 2000 we participated in the exhibition Samizdat in Berlin by lending some of our materials. In 2001 we took part in the same way in the exhibitions Doma v cizině Češi ve Vídni (At Home Abroad The Czechs in Vienna) and Jaroslav Seifert, both of which were held in Prague. Our exhibits were again displayed at the exhibitions Samizdat in Budapest, Deutschland Tschechien in Leipzig, and Ladislav Sutnar in Prague.

9 We lent hundreds of exhibits for the exhibition Český a slovenský exil 20. století (The Czech and Slovak Exiles in the 20th Century) in Brno. In 2004, the same for the Prague exhibition Hrabal a Libeň (Hrabal and Libeň) and another at the Polabské Museum in Poděbrady, Autoři samizdatu (Authors of the Samizdat). In 2005 at the Book Museum in Žd ár nad Sázavou, thanks to our loan of samizdat and exile literature, the exposition of the history of books in the 20th century was expanded. Our materials could also be seen at the exhibitions Zlaté časy médií (The Golden Age of Media) at the National Museum in Prague, Literatura a totalita (Literature and Totality) at the Museum of the Highlands in Havlíčkův Brod, and 140 of our exhibits at the Polish Institute s exhibition at the book trade fair Libri in Olomouc. In July 2005 we co-operated in the installation of the exposition Československá cela (č. 82) (The Czechoslovak Cell No. 82), in the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet, Romania. In September of the same year we prepared the exhibit Zakázané knihy, zakázaná témata (The Prohibited Books, the Prohibited Topics) at the Polish Institute in Prague. For the Bohumil Hrabal conference in Udine, held in October of the same year, we prepared the exhibit of Bohumil Hrabal s books published in samizdat. October 2006 found us taking part in the book fair in Pisa with a lecture on samizdat and an exhibit. In March 2007 we organized an exhibition of samizdat at the Prague Crossroads the Church of Saint Anne, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary meeting of Charter 77 and commemoration of the legacy of Jan Patočka. We also co-operated in organizing the exhibit Souhlasím s prohlášením Charty 77 z (I Agree with the Charter 77 Declaration of 1 January, 1977), which took place at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague in March At the same time we lent material for an exhibition at the National Museum in Prague, Charta 77 a její doba, doba a její Charta (The Charter 77 in its Times, History and the Charter 77) as well as for an exhibition at the Czech Center of Budapest. We also lent one of our valuable works of samizdat the book Bratři lví srdce by Astrid Lindgren - to the Royal Library in Stockholm in In May of 2008, we have commemorated the anniversary of the birth as well as of the premature death of the prisoner of conscience Jaromír Šavrda by means of an exhibition at the National Library. Our materials traveled to Rome and Udine, (Praga da una primavera all altra, ), to Moscow (Želanije svobody), to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as well as to Basel s exhibition Prager Frühling. We have also lent documents to the exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the origin of K 231 in Prague. The magazines from our collections made an appearance at the exhibition of the Publishers Union. Copies of our materials are presently included in the exhibition Jan Palach at Prague s Carolinum. Along with the deputy chairman of the Czech Senate J. Liška, we have set up the Evening Talk with the Members and Supporters of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted to commemorate the 30-th anniversary of its coming into being. In 2009, there were many instances where we contributed to various expositions, many of which revolved around the 20-th anniversary of November Let us list a few of them here: our materials traveled to the Karlovy Vary Museum for their

10 exhibition 1989 the Journey to Freedom ; Úvaly u Prahy for From Totality to democracy ; the Senate in Prague for The Way to Break Chains ; Prague s National Museum for Svobodu!/Be Free! ; the exhibition Österreich. Tschechien, which was held at the Kunsthaus Horn and Lindenhof Raabs in Austria; the exhibition Albertov 1989: 20-th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, held by the Natural Sciences of the Charles University; and to the exhibition commemorating the 1979 trial of the VONS members, called I just can t live any other way, put on by the Václav Havel Library in Prague s Montmartre Gallery. Toward the end of that year 2009, we were finally able to mount exhibitions in our own space. Our first showing took place in November when we presented the works of Luděk Holub, a painter and graphic artist who lives in Sweden; in December there was the exhibition of Polish samizdat and exile periodicals, which accompanied the opening of the Polish Underground Library in Prague at our location. In 2010, we have loaned a collection of books to an exhibition in Prague s National Museum, called Poklady Moravy; as well as samizdat and exile prints for an exhibition, Dílo Karla Hynka Máchy v ilustracích (The Work of Karel Hynek Mácha in the form of illustrations) at Žďár nad Sázavou. On our premises, we have shown the work of two emigre artists Rudolf Plaček (Toronto) and Ladislav Schovanec (Paris), two samizdat artists Jiří Jirásek and Michal Matzenauer and also the works of Miloš Holub and the work of Boy Scout prisoners from the 1950 s. In 2011, we prepared panels that explained what samizdat had been for the movable exhibit Spisovatelé přes kopírák (Writers Through Copying Paper) and we participated in its opening in Denmark, where we demonstrated some of the methods of copying that had been used in the totalitarian period. We also took part in a conference at the University of Padua s, called Samizdat as the Symbol of European Culture, for which we also constructed explanatory panels and where we exhibited samples of samizdat from our collection. A large collection of unique materials traveled to New York s Czech House exhibit of Czech samizdat. On our own premises, we have presented sedm exhibitions described in greater detail in the section Activities. COMMENDATIONS In December of 2007, Václav Jehlička presented Jiří Gruntorád with the Award of the Ministry of Culture for contribution to the development of Czech culture for the year 2007 for (and we quote): the project Libri Prohibiti Library which he established and has directed very competently and self-sacrificingly for more than sixteen years. In September of 2008, Jiří Gruntorád was awarded the commemorative medallion of Z. V. Tobolka for his significant contribution to the development of the Czech library science by the Union of Czech Libraries and the Fund of Libraries. In 2010, he received the June First Award, given by the City Council of Plzeň. He was awarded the prize for his courage in distribution of banned literature in the

11 totalitarian times and for founding the Libri Prohibiti Library which administers the largest collection of proscribed and exile publications in the Czech Republic. In October of 2011, Jiří Gruntorád was awarded the Golden Linden Bough by the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic for his significant contribution to the preservation of basic human rights and liberties. PROCESSING OF THE COLLECTIONS The library's collections, including audiovisual, are being computer cataloged with the ISIS/MAKS library system, and we are currently adding to them and working on their revision. We are also enlarging our database with records of desiderata and are creating bibliographic collections, in addition to processing article bibliographies of important samizdat periodicals, for example Kritický sborník, Host, Historické studie, Obsah, and others, of which we already have more than 7800 records. We have published some of these in Kritický sborník, where bibliographies of the following samizdat editions are gradually coming out: Jungiana, Nové cesty myšlení, Spisy Jana Patočky, Česká expedice, Krameriova expedice, Popelnice, Expedice (dark and light series), Alef, and Knihovna Střední Evropy. O U R P UB L IC AT IONS Katalog knih českého exilu (Catalog of Books of the Czech Exile, ) 1994) In 1995 with the financial help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic we issued, through the publisher Primus, our Catalog of Books of the Czech Exile, , as our first book publication. It is a combination of a bibliography of books issued in the West by Czech publishers and of the catalogs of three Prague libraries (Libri Prohibiti, the National Library, and the library of the Institute for Czech Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic). Several years of preparation, including research in the National Library and the library of the Institute for Czech Literature, preceded its publication. The catalog, sold out today, was compiled by Jiří Gruntorád. It contains 3111 bibliographic records and has 394 pages and a name and subject index of persons. The price of the publication was 129-CZK. Sdělení Výboru na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných a Zprávy Východoevropské informační agentury (Communications of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted and Reports of the East European Information Agency) In 1996 we bibliographically processed the Communications of VONS (the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted) and Reports of the East European Information Agency. These bibliographies are available to users in electronic form and also as a printed catalog (an internal printing by Libri Prohibiti and not for sale). This project was made possible with the help of the Foundation for the Development of a Civic Society (NROS).

12 Informace o Chartě 77: Článková bibliografie (Information about Charter 77: An Article Bibliography, ) 1990) Within the framework of the book edition of the article bibliography of information about Charter 77, we electronically processed the basis for the printing of this publication in 1997, and in March 1998 we issued through Doplněk publisher Information about Charter 77: An Article Bibliography, This project was supported by the Foundation for the Development of a Civic Society from the PHARE Program of the Commission of the European Union. The publication contains 4129 bibliographic entries and has 628 pages and an author and name index, plus an index of institutions. Jiří Gruntorád compiled the bibliography with the help of Jana Lifková. The hard-cover copy costs 350-CZK and the paperback 315-CZK. Exilová periodika: Katalog periodik českého a slovenského exilu a krajanských tisků vydávaných po roce 1945 (Exile Periodicals: Catalog of Czech and Slovak Exile Periodicals and Czech C Printed Material Issued Abroad after 1945) In the year 2000 with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foundation for the Development of a Civic Society through the PHARE program of the European Union, and the city of Prague, we issued through Ježek publisher a catalog under the title: Exile Periodicals: Catalog of Czech and Slovak Exile Periodicals and Czech Printed Material Issued Abroad after 1945, which brings together a collection of 1093 periodicals. It is something of a continuation of our Catalog of Books of the Czech Exile, , and is likewise a combination of bibliography and catalog. Its entries include all known titles of periodicals from this period published in Czech. In it we also devote attention to periodicals in Slovak and other languages. A part of the book also consists of bibliographic entries of all titles then present in Libri Prohibiti, including a list of all issues, as well as lists of periodicals in the library of the Náprstek Museum in Prague, and in the archive of the Olomouc Center for Exile Studies. More than 600 titles represented in Libri Prohibiti are described in detail. The book has 503 pages, with a name, publisher, and title index. The first index alone contains almost 3500 names. The catalog was compiled by Lucie Formanová, Jiří Gruntorád, and Michal Přibáň. The hard-cover publication costs 360-CZK. Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných: Politická perzekuce, opozice a nezávislé aktivity v Československu v letech (The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted: Political persecution, opposition and independent activities in Czechoslovakia in the years of ) 1989) The first publication of a grant-supported project, marked 1/2007. Editor: Jaroslav Pažout, published by Libri Prohibiti, where you will find two studies about State Security agents among the members of the VONS, a report on the criminal prosecution of Jaroslav Šabata in 1978, a study of the work of Amnesty International on behalf of Czechoslovak political prisoners, a piece about the 1988 chain hunger strike in support of the Czechoslovak prisoners of conscience and

13 an interview with the VONS member Ivan Medek. The 142-page collection contains a biographical index. It is the first volume of a proposed trilogy, which is a part of a three-year project by GA CR and it is not for sale. Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných: Politická perzekuce, opozice a nezávislé aktivity v Československu v letech (The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted: Political persecution, opposition and independent activities in Czechoslovakia in the years of ) 1989) The second publication of the grant-supported project, marked 2/2008. Editor: Jaroslav Pažout, published by Libri Prohibiti, where you can read about the case of father František Lízna, the confiscation of the working archive of VONS in 1986, or about the Candle Demonstration in Bratislava. The collection has 172 pages and a biographical index and it also isn t for sale. Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných: Politická perzekuce, opozice a nezávislé aktivity v Československu v letech (The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted: Political persecution, opposition and independent activities in Czechoslovakia in the years of ) 1989) The third and final publication of the grant-supported project, marked 3/2009. Editor: Jaroslav Pažout, published by Libri Prohibiti, where you can read about the phenomenon of so called spies, a study of the persecution of the music enthusiast Jiří Gans, an article about the sentencing of Jaroslav Šabata in connection with the meeting of dissidents on the Czechoslovak/Polish border in 1978, an interview with Jan Tesař, concerning the beginnings of VONS, and a summary of VONS documents. The collection has 234 pages and a biographical index and it also isn t for sale. Přadénko z drátů (Skein of Wire) A facsimile of a book of poetry with beautiful illustrations, reproduced as it was secretly created by the Boy Scout prisoners in the labor camp Rovnost at Jáchymov in the years Also included is a text by Kateřina Volková on the genesis of this collection; a text by Petra Čáslavová on prison poetry in general and on the conditions of its creation; and a study by Michal Jareš, concerning the Skein of Wire. The book was published in 2010 in a print run of 700 and prepared for publication by Kateřina Volková. Published by Libri Prohibiti in collaboration with Gallery. The publication was supported by a donation from the City of Prague. This paperback costs 180- CZK. Katalog k výstavě exilového malíře Rudolfa Plačka (Catalog of the exhibit of Rudolf Plaček, painter in exile) The surrealist paintings of Rudolf Plaček were discovered in Toronto by Josef Škvorecký, who wrote for us a text which became the catalog s introduction. This volume of 4 pages in A4 format had the print run of 100 copies. Published by Libri

14 Prohibiti in The publication was supported by a donation from the City of Prague. The price is 50- CZK. Sborník Česko-polská literatura v samizdatu a druhém oběhu: studie a rozhovory s překladateli (Compendium ( of Czech-Polish literature in samizdat and underground: a study, interviews with translators) A compendium that accompanies the project Polish Underground Library in Prague, supported by Czech-Polish Forum of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Editors: Jarmila Štogrová, Dorota Müllerová and Zita Chalupová, published by Libri Prohibiti in 2010 in a print run of 350 copies. In this publication, you can read about Poland and Poles within the Czech samizdat in the 1970 s and 1980 s, interviews with Czech and Polish translators, a study of Polish literature in the context of the Czech samizdat and of Czech literature in the context of the Polish underground. The compendium has a biographical index and illustrations, and it is not for sale. Sborník Slibuji na svou čest: Význam skautského slibu (Compedium I I Swear Upon My Honor : The Significance of the Boy Scout Pledge) A compedium designed for a conference, which took place on April 26, 2011, in Libri Prohibiti, and for the aponymous exhibit, supported by a grant from the International Visegrad Fund. Prepared for publication by Jarmila Štogrová and Josef Štogr, and published in 2011 by Libri prohibiti in an edition of 450 copies. The compedium is not for sale. Sborník Význam slibu (Compedium Significance of a Pledge) What kind of a thing is a pledge that can bind you for the rest of your life? This collection of text offers a meditation on the decision to make a promise and to keep it even at the cost of personal discomfort and uncertainty. Compiled by Josef Štogr and published by Libri prohibiti in The publication was supported by a grant from the International Visegrad Fund. The compedium is not for sale. Katalog k výstavě exilové autorky Staši Jílovské-Fleischmannové (Catalogue for the exhibit of the exile artist Staša Jílovská-Fleischmannov Fleischmannová) A voluminous catalogue of collages and photographs of an artist who has lived in France for a long time. The publication was supported by a donation from the city of Prague. Its sale price is 100,- Kč. Katalog k výstavě exilové fotografky Heleny Wilsonové (Catalogue for the exhibit of the exile photographers Helena Wilsonová) Photographs from the Czech underground of the 60 s and 70 s (happenings, activities of Křižovnická škola, concerts). The publication was supported by a donation from the city of Prague and it has been completely sold out.

15 Katalog k výstavě o australském Hlasu domova a jeho vydavateli Františku Váňovi (Catalogue for the Exhibit about Voice of Home and its Publisher František Váňa) A part of this catalogue is a compilation of poetry by a long-time collaborator of Voice of Home, Václav Michl, entitled Daleko je moje Tipperrary (Faraway Is My Tipperary). The publication was supported by a donation from the city of Prague. Its price is 100,- Kč. Katalog k výstavě exilového kreslíře a hudebníka Jaroslava Jeronýma Neduhy (Catalogue for the exhibit of the exile draftsman and musician Jaroslav Jeroným Neduha) Drawings, paintings, libretti of rock operas. The publication was supported by a donation from the city of Prague. Its price is 100,- Kč. O U R RE S U LT S THROU GH THE YE A R Since September 1999 we have had INTERNET pages in Czech and English, since summer 2002 in German, and since the end of 2006 also in French at our address: This was made possible with the financial help of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the kind contribution of the Center for Theoretical Studies at Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. More than people visited our web site last year. Visitors can find here basic information about our library and association, our current annual report, annual reports from previous years, articles about the library, information on our publications and their reviews, lists of our sponsors, an overview of digitalized magazines displayed on the internet, lists of books that we are looking for, and also some of our book catalogs. A recent addition also provides information about exhibits and other events in our library. In 2011, we strove to improve our website and attempted to give it a new, better face with a more diversified content. We are about to unveil it at a new address: CATALOGUES The completed project of converting the data of our computer catalogs from the ISIS/MAKS system to the EasyInt system makes it possible for us to present and progressively update our catalogs on the internet. In 2001 we placed the catalogs of our collection of Czechoslovak postwar exile publications and of postwar publications of the Slovak exile here, and in 2003 the catalog of the Czechoslovak wartime exile. In 2008, we have presented on the internet the Catalog of Books Dealing with the First Resistance (66 items) and our Catalog of Exile Publications (420 items). Our Catalog of Czechoslovak Exile Book Publications Issued from 1948 to the Present contains 4300 entries, and it is possible to find material in it in several

16 indexes: the Authors' Index (according to primary and secondary authors, illustrators, translators, editors, etc.); the Title Index (according to the titles of books); the Publishers' Index; and the Index of Persons (according to people written about). Using the same criteria, it is possible to work with the catalog of Slovak exile publications, which so far contains 620 records, and with the catalog of publications of the Czechoslovak wartime exile, which contains 580 records. The catalogs are progressively updated, and we want to present still others, especially catalogs of periodicals and of Czechoslovak samizdat. In 2001 and 2002 within the framework of a grant from EIDHR of the European Community we processed the archive fund The Czechoslovak Students Movement in the 1960 s (the collection of Ivan Dejmal), which contains 545 records in eight cartons, and made it available on our internet pages. We also continued work on the archive of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted, which we began in the year The inventory of this archive (59 cartons) was completed in 2005, and the collection itself is being gradually completed. The total inventory was placed on our websitein We have also published an anthology of a grant-supported project see under Our Publications. Last year we increased our collection by more than 800 books and about 40 periodical titles, mostly through gifts and purchases. The following parts of our collection expanded the most significantly: Czech samizdat monographs by 380 units Slovak samizat monographs by 80 units Exile monographs by 120 units Polish samizdat monographs of 180 units The reference library by 300 units The audiovisual collection has grown by 130 DVD s and 400 audio cassettes, which have mostly been transferred to a digital form DIGITIZING During 1999 we transferred three complete exile periodicals to electronic form: first, the independent review Skutečnost, issued from 1949 to 1953, with 1096 digitalized pages of text; the somewhat more extensive independent cultural review Sklizeň, issued from 1953 to 1979, with 2040 pages; and the monthly for politics and culture Zápisník, issued between 1958 and 1962, and having 491 pages. Together with several samizdat publications we have processed over 4000 pages. In 2007 we completely transferred to electronic form the exile periodical Nový život (approximately pages) and in part the samizdat periodical Informace o Chartě 77 (about 2500 pages). In 2008, we have completed the digitalization of Informace o Chartě 77, newly transfered the magazines Vokno, Voknoviny, PARAF, Informační bulletin Čs.-polské solidarity and Koruna, and the exile magazines Perspektivy, Archa, Studie, Krtek and Svobodná země. Nevertheless, this is only a tiny fraction of materials that must be converted into a virtual form in the foreseeable future, not only for reasons of preservation of cultural heritage, but also to make the use of them more efficient. Other materials digitalized in 2009

17 may be found below under the heading Results of the the Grant Project Polish Underground Library in Prague. In the years , our digitizing continued and we have transferred the exile publications Rozmluvy, Poradní svitek and Stopa to electronic form. Outcome of grant-supported project VONS: Politická perzekuce, opozice a nezávislé aktivity v Československu v letech (CDUP: Political persecution, opposition and independent activities in Czechoslovakia in the years of ) 1989) /implemented in years / 2009/ The main goal of this project is the critical publication of documents of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted, specifically 1125 records of cases of persecution, and of other documents which were never officially issued. In the first year of the project a selection of basic models for editing of the communications was done, and these were transcribed. Approximately a further eighty documents of the committee were collected. These were never formally issued and they have now been transcribed. The digests of all these documents have been made. In 2008, we have published the first and in 2009 the second volume of the work. The third and last volume was published last year. All three imprints were put out in a run of 300 copies. They have 144, 174 and 234 pages respectively and they are not for sale. We have also put out the transcription of the Evening Talk of the VONS members, dealing with the history of VONS, which took place on October 19, 2007, in the apartment of Kamila Bendová. The editors of the book Nejcitlivější místo režimu: Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných očima svých členů (Regime s Most Vulnerable Spot: The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted as Seen through the Eyes of its Members) are Jaroslav Pažout and Petr Blažek. Outcome of grant-supported project Support for the Cuban Independent Libraries Movement. Franz Kafka s literary contest Novels for the drawer in the third year of its existence (2010) The purpose of the project is not only to support the Cuban reading public by means of independent libraries, but also to support contemporary Cuban writers who are unable to publish their work officially in Cuba, as well as to make possible the publication of at least one work in order to distribute it in Cuba. Further, it is the support and assistance of the Cuban librarians who are persecuted and imprisonned for their activities. In 2009, he winner of the literary contest, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo s Boring Home.The book was smuggled to Cuba, along with many other books in Spanish. Letters were sent in support of the imprisonned librarians and their families and the project to adopt the independent libraries has been started. There was also the printing of an informational flyer, called Let us support Cuba s independent libraries. In 2010, the literary contest was won by Ernesto Santana s book, El Carnaval y los Muertos. It was published by Fra Publishers and also distributed to Cuba. There

18 was also the delivery of material help to the Cuban librarians by means of couriers, consisting of books, mostly children literature, children s films on DVD s, small electronics (data carriers, batteries, cables), writing utensils, and medicine. We also managed to get in touch with libraries in distant provinces, which had formerly existed outside the sphere of foreign assistance, and to integrate them into our network of active collaborators. We found a new kind of partner in children centers, which focus on extracurricular education and which operate in conjunction with independent libraries or church-run charities or community centers. Among other things, we sent these institutions a notebook, a printer, several photo cameras and table games. With the assistance of these centers, we organized the first year of our annual Child Photography Contest, called Mi Cuba (My Cuba). The contest yielded a compendium of very interesting photographs, ready-made for an exhibition and a catalog. The first half of the year saw the inauguration of a web site, incubadora, a virtual space dedicated mainly to Cubans, which offers among other things an archive of Cuban samizdat magazines, anthologies, and interesting books about Cuba, while also giving Cuban artist an opportunity to express themselves. The purpose of this endeavor is to create a true virtual library, which could become a resource not only for the independent libraries, but also for the wider Cuban public. Havana also saw a presentation on the subject of Czech culture and dissent, which took place in an underground club in the Coco solo neighborhood. Outcome of grant-supported project Polish Underground Library in Prague in the second year of its implementation (2010) In collaboration with the Karta Center Foundation of Warsaw, we have set up and catalogued a collection of Polish underground and exile publications, which together with a collection of Polish fliers, posters, sound and visual recordings form the Polish Underground Library in Prague and are a part of the Libri Prohibiti. The opening ceremony took place on November 10, 2009, and there was also an exhibition and a workshop to accompany it. In 2010, we continued to collaborate with the Karta Center Foundation, enabling us to enlarge the collection by another 180 items. The entire collection has been catalogued and it contains more than 1500 items. The collection is open to the public and its catalog is also partly available on the internet under Outcome of grant-supported project Significance of the Boy Scout Pledge (2011) The project maps the transformation of the Boy Scout pledge in the context of the movement within Central Europe. Boy Scouts of all generations gave, and also collected, testimony about what making the pledge had meant to them in the time of Boy Scout persecution, during the period of legalization of the organization s activities as well as in their daily lives. This project was conducted in collaboration with o. s. Nett an independent think tank -- and with the organizations: Junák s Brothers Mašín Center, Slovak Skauting, the Union of Slovak Scouts of Hungarian

19 Extraction and Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego. At the Libri prohibiti library, there were three public workshops, an international conference and an exhibit, devoted to the history of the Boy Scout pledge and the Boy Scout movement. The exhibit was transferred to the Boy Scout museums in Ružomberok and Warsaw as well as to Komárno s Danubean Museum. This project generated two compedia: I Swear Upon My Honor and Significance of a Pledge. The underwriter of the project was Jarmila Štogrová, who also edited the compedium. The exile Boy Scout magazines Poradní svitek and Stopa, which form a part of the Libri prohibiti collection, were digitized in cooperation with the Exodus Association and they are now available at The project was supported by the International Visegrad Fund and its output has been published at Student Periodicals from the 1960 s In 2007 we also began work on the project of making available periodicals created in the context of the student movement of the 1960 s. So far 87 periodicals with a total of about 1700 pages (for example, Buchar, Impuls, and Elixír) have been collected from various sources and scanned. This year, we will make these accessible through the web pages of Libri Prohibiti. We also anticipate adding more material to this collection. The year 2011 saw the continuation of expanding and cataloguing of this collection. The Charter 77 Collection (8 cartons, 30 inventory units) In 2007 the Charter 77 collection was made available to us to put in order. In view of the increased interest in this collection in connection with the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of Charter 77, we have so far processed an interim inventory list. In 2011, we will complete a definitive inventory of it. The Charter 77 Collection has been constantly growing. Its contents include a collection of documents issued by Charter 77, their conceptions, reactions to the Charter 77 from abroad, as well as texts reflecting the activities and the existence of Charter 77 itself. Manifestations of solidarity with its signatories, documentation on the meetings of the signatories after 1989, discussions of their activities after the fall of the communist regime, related historical research, and articles about Charter 77 are also included. Personal Collections In 2007 several personal collections were put in order and their inventories and catalogs prepared. They include the collections of Otakar Veverka (2 cartons), Jarmila Charfreitag (1 carton), and Hana Šklíbová (1 carton). We also began work on cataloging the personal collection of Ladislav Radimský, which was donated to us by the Hoover Institute (23 cartons). In years , we have catalogued roughly one half of the voluminous Radimský correspondence and last year the work on this project continued. After several years of labor, we are nearing the completion of the inventory of Antonín Kratochvil s collection and the catalogue of the Zdeněk Neubauer collection is also nearing its final form. In 2010, we have processed the collections of Jaroslav Strnad and Nikolaj Terlecký. We have almost

20 finished the work on the Josef Jonáš collection and begun the cataloguing of the Miroslav Obrman and Jiří Němec collections. In 2011, we have completed the work on Miroslav Obrman s collection and nearly completed the Jaroslav Jírů collection, which pertains to the samizdat edition of Lidove noviny. We continued working on the personal collection of Jiří Němec while the personal collection of Jaroslav Vrzala was shipped in and put into order. We have started the work of cataloging the Edmund Řehák collection as well as of the voluminous collection of Jiří Kárnet, which was brought in from the USA. T HE L IB RA RY GOA LS F O R Our main goal is to accumulate the most complete and highest quality collection of books, periodicals, and other materials which were created by the Czech and Slovak exile, and of all the accessible productions of our domestic opposition, our samizdat. We want to completely catalog these collections by computer and to make the results accessible for the purpose of further research, both in our computer network and in the form of book and periodical publications, also by issuing them on CD-ROM and on the internet. This year it is necessary to: continue with our acquisitions continue the computer cataloging of our collections and new acquisitions, gradually migrating the processed data to the internet continue expanding and cataloging the audiovisual collection continue the project of preserving endangered exile periodicals by means of their transfer to electronic media (CD, DVD) via scanners continue to present exhibits and literary evenings of exile or samizdat authors For this year, we will present one project to the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic Collecting the Data in the Library of Libri Prohibiti, Processing it, and Making it Accessible, and one project to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs incubadora (Support for the Cuban Independent Libraries Movement). Furthermore, we will propose one project to Prague City Hall The continual activities of the library and the study rooms of Libri Prohibiti. In view of the constantly diminishing resources in the state budget, we assume that grants will cover only a part of our operating expenses and thus will need to keep relying on you, our sponsors, patrons and friends. Gifts by individuals and corporations are tax-deductible in the Czech Republic. RE Q UE ST Although the library already contains the most extensive collection of the exile and samizdat materials from the totalitarian period, there still remain notable gaps in