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Contemporary (1950 CE - Present)

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Teleprint, Information on the Conclusions of Nation-wide Party Congress held in Prague

The Czechoslovak Communist Party faced some unpleasant realities on November 28. The previous day's general strike had seriously weakened its hand.

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Instructions of the Coordinating Center of the Civic Forum for the Local Forums with a Recommendation for Policy Toward the Communists

The name "Velvet Revolution" was an oxymoron: revolutions were traditionally violent overthrows wiping away the old regime in order to build a new society. The Communist Party followed this model in Eastern Europe, and opposition groups rejected it in 1989 with their strategy of non-violence.

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Letter from Shevardnadze to Gorbachev about the Romanian Crisis

December 1989 proved to be a revolutionary month in Romania.

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Telephone Call from Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the Federal Republic of Germany to President George H. W. Bush

After the historic and spontaneous dismantling of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, East and West Germany were on the verge of reuniting. Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor and later chancellor of the reunited Germany, and George H. W.

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Telephone Call from President George H. W. Bush to Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany

Following World War II, Germany was divided into two countries, with West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) becoming integrated into Western Europe and East Germany (German Democratic Republic) falling behind the Iron Curtain, with the Soviet Union in control.

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Teaching

Long Teaching Module: Women and Politics in Southeast Asia, 1900-2000

This module examines women’s attempts to negotiate political spaces in the realms of official and unofficial power in Southeast Asia in the 20th century.

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Geremek on Solidarity’s Strategy of Restraint in the Spring of 1989

A medieval historian by training, Bronisław Geremek had emerged by the 1980s as one of the Solidarity movement’s leading strategists.

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The Catholic Church's role in the Roundtable Talks

In following letter, a Solidarity activist writes to Józef Cardinal Glemp, the head of the Roman Catholic church in Poland, to inform him of difficulties in setting up much-anticipated Round Table talks with the Communist regime.

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Excerpts from Debate Between Lech Walesa and Alfred Miodowicz, 30 November 1988

In the fall of 1988, Alfred Miodowicz, the head of the official union OPZZ (All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions), challenged Lech Wałesa, the leader of the outlawed Solidarity trade union, to a televised debate.

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Women’s Reflections on Work and Gender Relations under Socialism

In this collection of oral histories from Romania, subjects “R,” “I,” “M,” “E,” and “N” talk about their experiences of work during the socialist period.