Prague: Belonging in the Modern City

Vojtěch Berger was a carpenter, a member of the interwar Czechoslovak Communist Party, and an obsessive diarist who lived in Prague from 1921 until his death forty years later. For Berger and other party members, including top Communist leaders, Communism was much more than a political ideology or movement. It was world unto itself that offered radical leftists a shared sense of security and place following the horrors of World War I and the emergence of a hostile, yet tolerant, First Czechoslovak Republic. Berger’s self-documented life offers a rare window into Communist practices of belonging between the wars – participation in a wide range of associations, marching on May Day, and joining comrades for a drink at the local pub, to name just a few. Eschewing terms such as “identity,” Bryant argues that pursuing questions about how and where people pursue a sense of belonging offers more than just a fresh perspective on the interwar Czechoslovak Communist Party. They touch on broader themes in modern European history, including the ever-present burden of creating for oneself a sense of home and community in the face of unrelenting change and dislocation.

Disclaimer: This event will take place on UCL campus. Should circumstances change, the event will be delivered online.