Establishment of the State Bureau of Church Affairs

This thesis deals with state Church policy from the end of the World War II, with emphasis on the gradual seizure of power by the communist party and the process of systematic oppression of Church which resulted in passing the so-called Church laws and creation of the State bureau of Church affairs in 1949. The goal of the thesis is to map the relationship between the state and Church, to relate the systemic and administrative changes in the political and religious context which resulted in the State bureau of Church affairs representing the peak of state Church oppression. Keywords Catholic Church; Czechoslovakia; Communism; state and church; systemic oppressio