Manuscript magazines at the Estonian Cultural History Archives

The collection of manuscript magazines at the Estonian Cultural History Archives reflects the samizdat activities of writers and other cultural figures during Soviet times. It was formed in the 1990s after several donations, mostly from Jaan Isotamm. Nevertheless, the ‘almanac movement’ had numerous authors, outsiders as well as those recognised by the authorities whose works are now available in this collection. The collection contains manuscript magazines, poetry written in refugee camps, and material about religious movements and groups dealing with esoteric issues, etc. It also includes underground almanacs from Soviet times. These handwritten journals were not censored, and contain literary essays and poems, as well as socio-critical writings.

Location:
- Tartu Vanemuise 42, Estonia 51003
Topics:
Featured items:
- Samizdat magazine "Marm"

Memory of Nations

The Memory of Nations is an extensive online collection of the memories of witnesses, which is being developed throughout Europe by individuals, organizations, schools and institutions. It preserves and makes available the collections of memories of witnesses who have agreed that their testimony should serve to explore modern history and be publicly accessible. The collection includes testimonies of communism resistance, holocaust survival, artists of alternative culture and underground and many others.

Location:
- Vodičkova 36, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 2008
Featured items:
- Testimony of Vratislav Brabec, audio recording

Michal Šufliarsky Collection

When Michal Šufliarsky began to collect these items in 1969, his philosophy was that "what is forbidden is good." He worked as an employee of Czechoslovak television in Bratislava in the field of film and television production. His small private collection contains samizdat, recordings of Western music, photos of everyday life during communism, and unique recordings of student events. The activities of Mr. Šufliarsky are a good example of individual rather than political activism.

Mihai Manea Private Poster Collection

By means of the concert posters that he kept, Mihai Manea’s collection documents the coordinates of alternative musical culture in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly the jazz, rock, and folk genres. In communist Romania, these Western-inspired genres were permitted in the public space with considerable reservations and suspicion, given that they contravened the “Theses of July 1971” by which Nicolae Ceauşescu had imposed the re-autochthonizing of culture and the arts.

Location:
- București Strada Johann Gutenberg 19, Romania 030167
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 1969
Featured items:
- Unknown author. Concert poster, in Romanian, 10 May 1985
- Unknown author. Jazz festival poster, in Romanian, April 1969

Milan Knížák Collection at the Museum of Czech Literature

The personal collection of Milan Knížák (born 1940), a Czech artist, poet and founder of the group Aktual, contains unique books of the events organised by Aktual, one of the sources mapping the life of the provocative artist, the Czechoslovak underground and alternative art of the 1960s.

Location:
- Strahovské nádvoří 1, 118 38 Praha 1 - Hradčany, Czech Republic
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 1965
Featured items:
- Knížák, Milan. Attacks: Book on the "Aktual" group activities (happenings), 1962-1969. Manuscript (object)