Proti historické amnézii: čeští exiloví skladatelé Jan Novák a Antonín Tučapský versus oficiální kulturní politika

One of the important research topics of Czech musicology is the issue of the clash of free-thinking composers with the ideologically distorted cultural policy of the Czechoslovak communist regime (1948–1989). Czech composers in exile were destined to be erased from the collective historical memory. Reconstruction of their work, life and significance in the context of contemporaries is therefore one of the basic tasks of caring for the heritage of musical culture. Seen from Czechoslovakia, composers in exile could be perceived by their colleagues as cowards, or their foreign career could become a subject of envy. Seen from the other side, the external view of the politically deformed Czech music culture is very valuable for the objective reconstruction of the local situation. The study of exile music culture often tells far more about our own history than about the fates of exile composers.