Political prisoners of Jáchymov. Oral history in theory and practice

The aim of this doctoral thesis combines the possibilities of oral history in theory and practice. The first part prepares the field for delivering results of my research which is targeted at mapping and understanding recent history using oral histories of twelve survivors of communist régime imprisoned in the 1950s in the Jachymov district. At first, I demonstrate the usage of oral history and related thinking about it abroad and in the Czech context. I deliver the empirical material of this work using this method. It consists from life stories and personal testimonies of former political prisoners who have been organised in the Confederation of Political Prisoners after 1989 in the Czech Republic. Apart from methodological collection, analysis and interpretation of their life stories I point at further processing and introduction of such a research to the wide and expert public. I believe in the premise that personal testimonies of narrators represent a contribution to understanding "small history and its human aspect - here dealing with the Czechoslovak political persecution in 1950s. I also describe the evolution of my research project which I managed to enlarge and link to other academic work of my PhD. colleagues. Like this I hope to give birth to a (hopefully) unique multidisciplinary project which..