Incorporation of the Austrian political elites in local government bodies in Czechslovakia on the example of Jan Vladimír Hráský and society in Poděbrady

The subject of the dissertation is the application of former members of the Austro- Hungarian elite in Czechoslovak local government, using the example of engineer, university professor, and politician Jan Vladimír Hráský (1857-1939) and the spa town of Poděbrady. Through the figure of this historical actor, social events in the areas in which the individual was active are reflected upon. The biographical method is applied to reflect the professional environment, the practice in imperial political life, and the issues of local and regional politics in two historical eras. There could be numerous cases of political elites, such as Hráský, who have created alternative opportunities for themselves. The dissertation aims to contextualize the individual within the institutions and social groups in which he moved, whether in the academic, political, administrative, or, in this case, spa fields. The example of J. V. Hráský suggests that there may have been some limitations to the extent to which imperial elites could transform within the state institutions of the Czechoslovak Republic. The dissertation clearly and definitively outlines the individual phases of Hrásky's public activities. The text confidently analyses how he adapted to the environment of the Czechoslovak self-government, or rather, state...