Pernes cleared of wrongdoing

Jiří Pernes, who was forced out of as head of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR) just weeks into the job after accusations of plagiarism, was cleared of all wrongdoing Aug. 25 by a commission from the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The news comes just days after the embattled ÚSTR named its fourth director in as many months.  

"I am angry," Pernes told The Prague Post. "I have consulted lawyers about the issue. However, their advice did not seem persuasive enough for me to take any action. But I do not preclude this possibility."

The institute - which is charged with examining archives dating from both Nazi occupation and 40-plus years of communist rule - quickly became a political battleground upon its 2007 founding, as the country's two largest parties, the Civic Democrats (ODS) and Social Democrats (ČSSD), alternately accused the other of using the ÚSTR for their own means. Prominent academics have questioned the institute's research methods and noted its penchant for media headlines at the expense of comprehensive studies.

Pavel Žáček headed the ÚSTR from its founding until April of this year. After Pernes defeated Žáček during an open call for applications this spring, a variety of rumors began circulating about Pernes, and he had little doubt who was responsible.  

"There has been strong political pressures calling for my dismissal from the ODS side, including [former ODS Party Chief Mirek] Topolánek and Žáček, who goes hand in hand with the ODS," Pernes said at the time.

Independent observers agree."This group around Žáček from the beginning has considered the institute their personal domain and have treated it as such," said Jiří Pehe, director of New York University in Prague. "This institute is now a joke, a farce."

Addressing the plagiarism allegations after he was cleared by the Academy of Sciences, Pernes again pointed the finger at his predecessor but reiterated there were likely others involved. 

"Of course, Žáček had an interest in making me fail at the ÚSTR, but he could not have orchestrated the whole thing himself," Pernes said. "There must have been other people yearning to get rid of me."

The Academy of Sciences' inquiry determined that Pernes had used the work of student Josef Vytlačil in his book To the Bottom of Treachery: Emanuel Moravec but made the necessary citations. 

Daniel Herman, a former priest, took over as ÚSTR director earlier this month. Within days of taking office, he hired Žáček back on as well as two other employees that had been fired by Pernes.

When contacted, Žáček declined to answer any questions about Pernes or the public campaign waged against him.

"If you devote so many years of your life to something, you fight for it to the end, give it solid ground, make it go in the right direction, ensure it financially and personally, vindicate it in the international arena, should you really give up with the first quake?" Žáček said. "I like to finish things."

Whether the institute will ever be able to live up to its original purpose of impartially examining the public record from dark periods in Czechoslovak history remains to be seen.

"People who know me know that I am clean," Pernes said. "The operation of the ÚSTR is highly politicized, and I was always open about my intentions to depoliticize it. So I guess there were people who did not like my intentions."

- Klára Jiřičná and Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com