Ideological blinkers in the film Vlny: How rewriting history undermines democracy

Manythanks to Marián Lóži and Jan Čulík for their critical commentson this text.

Someintellectuals seek to understand the past in order to learn from it;others reshape it to suit their own political convictions. JiříMádl falls into the second category. His film Vlny(Waves) is an attempt to rewrite Czechoslovak communist history, anapproach that can unfortunately come as no surprise after 35 years ofinadequate historical education and unbridled anticommunism in theCzech public sphere.