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Popular conspiracy theories in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Zuzana Panczová  and
Petr Janeček
Zuzana Panczová*
Affiliation:
Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Republic
Petr Janeček*
Affiliation:
Department of Ethnology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Czech Republic
*
Zuzana Panczová, Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Email: zuzana.panczova@savba.sk
Petr Janeček, Department of Ethnology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Náměstí Jana Palacha 2/1, 116 38 Praha 1, Czech Republic. Email: petr.janecek@ff.cuni.cz
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Abstract

The study presents popular conspiracy theories spread within the Czech and Slovak language milieu. Along with the growth in the number of internet portals disseminating this type of texts, their reflection in public opinion is also visible in the way almost every major foreign policy issue or domestic case is commented upon in public internet discussions. The authors seek to identify the narrative and rhetorical sources of conspiracism in these countries since the rise of modern nationalism in the 19th century, focusing on the events accompanying the creation of the common state of the Slovaks and Czechs, the period of the Second World War, the rule of the Communist regime, the events related to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the “Velvet Revolution” in 1989 up to the present. The paper focuses attention on group-shared images of the enemies and on mutual interactions between the interpretations of local events and global conspiracy theories, as well as updates or later reinterpretations of older conspiracy motifs.

Keywords

Conspiracy theoriesrumourspropagandablood libelanti-SemitismMilan Rastislav Štefánikpotato beetle plagueVelvet RevolutionSlovakiaCzechia
Type
Conspiracy Theories in former Communist countries
Information
Diogenes , Volume 62 , Issue 3-4: Conspiracy Theories Today , November 2015 , pp. 101 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2020

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