Captive University

The Sovietization of East German, Czech, and Polish Higher Education, 1945-1956

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, Educational Theory, Curricula, History, Eastern Europe, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Communism & Socialism
Cover of the book Captive University by John Connelly, The University of North Carolina Press
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Author: John Connelly ISBN: 9781469623856
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: December 1, 2014
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: John Connelly
ISBN: 9781469623856
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: December 1, 2014
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

This comparative history of the higher education systems in Poland, East Germany, and the Czech lands reveals an unexpected diversity within East European stalinism. With information gleaned from archives in each of these places, John Connelly offers a valuable case study showing how totalitarian states adapt their policies to the contours of the societies they rule.

The Communist dictum that universities be purged of "bourgeois elements" was accomplished most fully in East Germany, where more and more students came from worker and peasant backgrounds. But the Polish Party kept potentially disloyal professors on the job in the futile hope that they would train a new intelligentsia, and Czech stalinists failed to make worker and peasant students a majority at Czech universities.

Connelly accounts for these differences by exploring the prestalinist heritage of these countries, and particularly their experiences in World War II. The failure of Polish and Czech leaders to transform their universities became particularly evident during the crises of 1968 and 1989, when university students spearheaded reform movements. In East Germany, by contrast, universities remained true to the state to the end, and students were notably absent from the revolution of 1989.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This comparative history of the higher education systems in Poland, East Germany, and the Czech lands reveals an unexpected diversity within East European stalinism. With information gleaned from archives in each of these places, John Connelly offers a valuable case study showing how totalitarian states adapt their policies to the contours of the societies they rule.

The Communist dictum that universities be purged of "bourgeois elements" was accomplished most fully in East Germany, where more and more students came from worker and peasant backgrounds. But the Polish Party kept potentially disloyal professors on the job in the futile hope that they would train a new intelligentsia, and Czech stalinists failed to make worker and peasant students a majority at Czech universities.

Connelly accounts for these differences by exploring the prestalinist heritage of these countries, and particularly their experiences in World War II. The failure of Polish and Czech leaders to transform their universities became particularly evident during the crises of 1968 and 1989, when university students spearheaded reform movements. In East Germany, by contrast, universities remained true to the state to the end, and students were notably absent from the revolution of 1989.

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