Torwads new man! Social experiment in Post-war Czechoslovakia demonstrated in the example of Emil Zátopek.

In this diploma thesis I deal with the concept of a new socialist man in Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1956 on the example of Emil Zátopek. The aim was to analyze the form of the new socialist man on the example of selected fiction, newspaper articles, visual, audio and archival material, taking into account the person of Emil Zátopek. The research was conducted using methods of discursive analysis. I approached the concept of the new socialist man as a social construct. Research has shown that the image of the new socialist man was dynamic and was misused by communist ideologues to create images of ideal citizens and emphasize the negative qualities of external and internal enemies. Exceptional personalities, such as Emil Zátopek, were shown by period propaganda as ideal citizens who were a harbinger of a new world. Zátopek's period image consists of two forms that intertwined with each other. Their combination enabled the communist propagandists to present Zátopek as a new socialist man, yet an ordinary citizen. The diploma thesis is divided into three chapters, which refer to each other. The chapters were conceived according to the image of Zátopek in contemporary propaganda