Today we had a guest lecturer in History class. Some background first: Milan Kundera is a revered, famous (in CZ) Czech author. He is the author of The Joke, which I mentioned in a previous post. He was a member of the Communist Party, but once he saw the corruption and issues he became known for being the voice against the regime.
Recently (ish), Adam Hradilek discovered a document within the Communist Police archives noting that Kundera informed on Miroslav Dvoracek. As a result, Dvoracek ended up in prison/working at a uranium mine for 22 years. Kundera has denied this outright. A ton of backlash has resulted and debate sparked, since Hradilek and a colleague published the finding in a Czech magazine, Respekt.
Our speaker today was Hradilek. I can't go into detail about what he said since it was in confidence, but it was interesting. I do have to say, though, that it was more interesting to hear about his other work in interviewing survivors of the Holocaust/Communism and trying to speak with representatives from every possible demographic.
I also thought it was interesting that many people see The Joke as a book he wrote out of guilt- an atonement of sorts. In it, the main character (Ludvik) is sent to work in the mines after being informed on by a girl he loved and then later denounced by a friend.
This article sums up my take on the issue, though I am hardly qualified to be in any kind of serious debate.
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