Authors

Doubravka Olšáková¹;  ¹ Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

Discussion

Using Czechoslovakia and Slovenia as examples, the proposed paper focuses on the intra-bloc dynamics of the development of computers and computer terminology within the Soviet bloc - concentrating on the transfer of knowledge and expertise before and after 1968. Using the example of a classified military project, developed in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and entrusted to linguists, mostly former members of the Prague Linguistic Circle, a specialised military terminology based on foreign models from the West was to emerge following the development of Czechoslovak computers. The whole project was abandoned in 1968 for political reasons, but the Slovenes showed interest in it as part of the new Yugoslav defence doctrine. The paper thus follows the theme of the circulation and transfer of knowledge, but it also deals with one of the main figures behind the project: the computer expert Antonín Svoboda, who worked alternately in the USA and Czechoslovakia, from where he emigrated in 1964, but who nevertheless returned to Czechoslovakia regularly, thus attracting the attention of the secret services.