Spotting the Epilogue: Post-War Cinematic Image of the Czechoslovak RAF Pilots

• In Event: Layers of (Audio)Visual Memory and the Second World War in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This paper examines the audiovisual representations of Czechoslovak RAF pilots in postwar Czechoslovak and Czech cinema, tracing the political shifts in postwar history through their story's “disappearance” after 1948, brief re-emergence in 1968, and major rediscovery after 1989. Through an analysis of films such as The Sky Riders (1968), Cemetery for Foreigners (1991), Dark Blue World (2001), and Ballad of the Pilot (2018), along with selected documentaries, it highlights the unique role of this topic within Czech collective memory. While films about RAF pilots in other countries emphasize anti-fascism and individual heroism, Czechoslovak and Czech films focus on anti-communism, marginalization, and postwar persecution of the airmen, reflecting the central trauma of Czech history rooted more in the communist past than the Second World War.

Author

• Johana Kłusek, Inst of Ethnology CAS (Czech Republic)