The Zagreb publishing house Srednja Europa has published a translation of the book Ne baš lako socijalističko prijateljstvo, written by Dr Ondřej Vojtěchovský and Prof Jan Pelikán from the Institute of World History at CU FA. The original publication, V čase odkvétání. Československo a Jugoslávie v období pozdního socialismu, 1969–1989, was originally published by the Faculty of Arts Press in 2021.
The publication reaches Croatian readers with the modified title, meaning “Arduous Socialist Friendship), which highlights the nature of Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations in the period between the onset of normalisation and the end of the socialist regime in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The extended and updated Croatian edition is also supplemented by previously unpublished images. The translator of the book is Croatian historian and bohemist Marijan Lipovac.
The authors and the translator presented the new publication together with Dr Milan Sovilj from the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Dr Boris Mosković from the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the Kliofest history festival organized by the National and University Library in Zagreb in early May. At this meeting of historians and those interested in history from Croatia and other countries of the former Yugoslavia, two other books were also presented. Namely, the Serbian translation of Prof Jan Pelikán’s Novými cestami. Kosovo v letech 1958–1968 (Through New Paths. Kosovo 1958–1968), published last year by the Belgrade publishing house Službeni glasnik, and the Czech Balkanists also introduced their collective monograph Druhý poločas. Jugoslávie v období vrcholného a pozdního socialismu (The Second Half. Yugoslavia in the Period of High and Late Socialism), published in February 2024 on the occasion of Prof Jan Pelikán’s anniversary. All three presented publications were originally published by the Faculty of Arts Press.
