What Was The State Of Slovak Historiography After The Communist Takeover Of Czechoslovakia?
Slovak historiography after 1948 was dominated by Marxist historians, the most prominent of which was Ludovit Holotik. Despite his Marxist approach, Holotik rejected the notion of “Czechoslovakism” and saw Slovaks and Czechs as separate peoples. The Slovak Historical Society was re-established in 1957 and its research focus became the economic and social history of Slovakia. The Society, however, was dominated by Marxists. As a result, historians were most interested in uncovering alleged class conflict throughout the centuries, and especially during the feudal era, as well as uncovering the so-called “progressive traditions” of the Slovak nation. Despite the Marxist nature of Slovak history, by 1960 a growing number of Slovak historians rejected Czechoslovakism. The early 1960s also saw a slight liberalization of the discipline and the rehabilitation of Daniel Rapant, the dean of Slovak history. Nevertheless, after the suppression of the Prague Spring revolt in 1968, Marxists again re
