COURAGE

povezovanje zbirk

Petruška Šustrová was a Czech journalist, translator and spokeswoman of Charter 77. From 1966–1969 she studied history and Czech studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. However, she was prevented from finishing her studies when she was imprisoned in the autumn of 1969 for anti-regime activities as part of the critical group of leftist students called the “Revolutionary Youth Movement”. After returning from prison in 1971, she worked in a post office. She signed Charter 77 in 1977 and was its spokeswoman in 1985. In 1979 she became a member of the Committee for the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS). Šustrová also actively participated in samizdat activities. Thanks to a grant from the Hus Educational Foundation, she financially supported the work of the Czechoslovak samizdat publishers Expedice. She was also involved in rewriting texts for samizdat publications purposes, especially for Česká expedice (Czech Expedition) and wrote for the journal Střední Evropa (Central Europe). In 1983 she also edited a samizdat collection of poems by underground poets including František Pánek, Jáchym Topol and Andrej Stankovič.

Rūdolfs Šīrants (1910-1985) was a historian and museologist who was highly respected for his knowledge of the history of Riga and Latvia. Like other historians whose professional activities started in independent Latvia, he came up against constraints and obstacles in his work all through his life. He was dismissed from the Riga City History Archive in 1950, but was allowed to work at the Museum of the History of Riga. From 1960-1974, he was the head keeper of the collections at the museum, and started systematizing the inventory of the museum, separating out the main collections of artefacts, such as textiles, furniture and photographic negatives. All his life, Šīrants collected material on different topics regarding the history of Riga, but his list of academic publications is rather short. The archaeologist and historian Andris Caune points out that Šīrants' magnum opus, a book on old maps and plans of Riga, was not approved for publication because 300-year-old maps were classified. Only in 1987, after his death, did the museum publish a catalogue of maps. Although Šīrants' name was not mentioned on the title page, the museum paid tribute to him in the short introduction to the catalogue. Šīrants researched the contribution of Riga's German population to different aspects of the city's life all his life, but these research topics were also considered to be suspect. Nevertheless, the museum's management recognized Šīrants' knowledge of history, and his opinions on procuring artefacts was very important, although he was not the only person involved in forming collections. Šīrants' reputation as an outstanding historian of Riga, his belonging to the ‘old’ intelligentsia, and the fact that prior to 1940 he belonged to the student fraternity Austrums (founded in 1883), made it easier for him to make contact with people who were marginalized by the Soviet regime and did not trust official institutions, and to persuade them to grant artefacts in their possession to the museum.

The student demonstrations of 1968 and the turmoil that followed the occupation of Czechoslovakia are at the center of Žilnik’s first feature film, Early Works (1969), which was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and four prizes at Pula that same year.

After being censored in Yugoslavia, Žilnik spent the mid-1970s in West Germany, where he independently produced and made seven documentaries and one feature film, Paradise (1976). These were amongst the first to touch on the theme of foreign workers in Germany, and they continue to be shown at various film retrospectives and symposiums.

Turning to independent film and media production in the 1990s, he went on to make a series of feature and documentary films centering around the cataclysmic events in the Balkans: Tito among the Serbs for the Second Time (1994), Marble Ass (1995), Throwing Off the Yolks of Bondage (1997), Wanderlust (1998). These films won top awards at national festivals (Herceg Novi, Palić, Novi Sad and Sopot) and were screened at numerous international festivals. In 1995 Marble Ass won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlinale.

The breakdown of the value system in post-transitional Central and Eastern European countries and the problems concerning refugees and migration in the new circumstances of an expanded Europe were the focus of Žilnik’s most recent films: Fortress Europe (2000), Kennedy Goes Back Home (2003), Europe Next Door (2005), Old School of Capitalism (2009), among others.

His works are featured in collections of galleries and museums of contemporary art around the world. He has participated in international art events such as documenta in Germany and the Venice Biennale in Italy.

Alongside his ceaseless filmmaking and production work, Žilnik has been active in educational areas, as well; since 1997 he has been a mentor and executive producer at many international workshops for students from all over southeastern Europe. Since 2006 he has been a visiting lecturer at film schools and universities in the USA, Slovenia and the UK.

Saulius Žilys is a historian and researcher in the Manuscript Department of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He attended secondary school in Panevėžys. In 1990, he moved to Vilnius, where he started to study history at Vilnius University. After graduating from the university, Žilys started to work in the Manuscript Department. Thus, we can say that Žilys is the most experienced researcher in the department.

According to Žilys, he was not involved in opposition activities. He recalls that his parents frequently listened to Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America.

Žilys describes cultural opposition as a position that was not obviously dissident, but did not fit the framework imposed by the government. According to him, works of cultural opposition suffered because of strong censorship.