Historians leaving institute that uncovered Kundera's alleged StB ties

Prague, Dec 18 (ČTK) - The departure of historians who are employed at the
Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR) and who
disagree with excessive politicising of the institute continues, an
unidentified source told ČTK Thursday.

According to the lidovky.cz server, three USTR historians have recently
given their notices.

Previously the media said that the institute whose establishment and
activities have been accompanied by disputes and accusations of possible
politicising of history from the very beginning is experiencing internal
problems.

Petr Blazek, one of the historians who submitted the notices, told the
server that renowned specialists were missing in the institute.

He pointed to the absence of research mechanisms, competitions in filling
of certain positions and the editorial office of the USTR internal magazine
as other reasons for his departure.

"I have different views of the quality and meaning of the institute's
certain public presentations and on the institute leadership's position on
the case of Milan Kundera," Blazek, who was one of the closest aides to
Pavel Zacek, current USTR director, before the institute started working,
said.

Previously, some former institute employees sharply criticised Zacek in the
media, pointing out that totalitarianism reigns in the institute and that
its activity is being excessively politicised.

Zacek dismissed the allegations and said that the atmosphere in the
institute is free both for researchers and access to its archive documents.

The USTR recently came to public attention in connection with the case of
writer Kundera. Critics pointed to scandalising of somer personalities on
the basis of information originating from the institute.

At the end of October, the weekly Respekt published an article based on the
document found by USTR researcher Adam Hradilek according to which
Czech-born writer Kundera who has been living in France since the mid-1970s
reported a western agent to the Communist police in 1950.

Kundera rejected the allegation with indignation and Zacek later distanced
himself from the article.