100 Years Since the Creation of the Soviet State Security Organization Cheka (1917-2017)

100 Years Since the Creation of the Soviet State Security Organization Cheka (1917-2017)

Veranstalter
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Prague
Veranstaltungsort
Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Valdštejnské náměstí 17/4, Prague 1
Ort
Prague
Land
Czech Republic
Vom - Bis
03.11.2017 -
Deadline
21.06.2017
Website
Von
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Prague

On December 20, 1917 the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage) was created, and quickly assumed responsibility for arresting, imprisoning, and executing “enemies of the state”. After 1922, the Cheka sections underwent a series of reorganizations, with the NKVD, into bodies whose members continued to be referred to as Chekists. In 1921 the Troops for the Internal Defense of the Republic (a branch of the Cheka) numbered at least 200,000. These troops policed labor camps, ran the Gulag system, conducted requisitions of food and subjected political opponents to secret arrest, detention, torture and summary execution. They also put down rebellions and riots by workers or peasants, and mutinies in the Red Army.
After World War II the KGB was instrumental in creating state security structures in Eastern European countries and gradually expanded its foreign intelligence operations to become the world’s largest foreign intelligence service. It was Cold War policy for the KGB of the Soviet Union and the secret services of the satellite states to monitor extensively public and private opinion, internal subversion and possible revolutionary plots in the Soviet Bloc.
An international conference remembering the 100 years since the establishment of the Soviet Cheka will examine the following topics:
- The interdependence of communist security services and party leadership, as well as instruments of abuse of the power of security services.

- The structure of the Soviet state security apparatus and its implementation in Central and Eastern European countries.
- The state security activities against homeland opposition.
The conference will examine these topics both by considering their development at different periods of time and through international comparison.
Among the speakers who have already accepted our invitation to the conference are: Prof. Mark Kramer (Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies), Prof. Stefan Karner (University of Graz), Dr. Jens Gieseke (The Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam), Dr. Douglas Selvage (The Agency of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, BStU).

Conference organisation
Submission of abstracts
Please send your abstracts in Czech or English by 21 June 2017 to: kamila.kozichova@ustrcr.cz. The length of conference abstracts is limited to 500 words. Notification of acceptance of papers and guidelines will be sent by 30 June 2017. The deadline for submission of papers will then be 30 November 2017.
Publication
A collective monograph drawing on the conference papers will be published. Papers on this topic can also be submitted for publication in the institute’s journals.
Conference language
The conference will take place in Czech and English; simultaneous translation will be provided.
Accommodation and travel
The organisers will cover accommodation and catering at the conference for all speakers. Participants will pay for their own travel (exceptions can be made in the case of postgraduate students).

Programm

Kontakt

Kamila Kozichova

Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Siwiecova 2, Prague 3

kamila.kozichova@ustrcr.cz

www.ustrcr.cz
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Sprach(en) der Veranstaltung
Englisch
Sprache der Ankündigung