Edvard Beneš: Statesman, or Maker of Fateful Mistakes?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 8, 2025, 19:00 – 21:00
Edvard Beneš – second president of Czechoslovakia, co-founder of the independent state, but also a figure whose decisions still provoke lively debate today. Was Beneš a brilliant foreign policy maker, or rather a man unable to face the harsh realities of his time? How should we evaluate his decisions at key moments in our history, specifically September 1938 and February 1948? Or his foreign policy orientation towards the "West" – and then Moscow? Were these failures, unavoidable steps, or deliberate political calculations? The discussion will offer an open dialogue between historians about Beneš’s legacy, which remains a subject of controversy and emotion even decades later.
Petr Pithart, Jan Kuklík, and Jan Rychlík will participate in the debate, chaired by historian Michal Macháček.
One in a series of evenings held in cooperation with the Museum of 20th Century Memory.