SONDA DO ZAKLADATELSKÉHO OBDOBÍ PEDAGOGICKÉ FAKULTY MASARYKOVY UNIVERZITY. „PŘÍPAD“ PROFESORKY RŮŽENY TESAŘOVÉ

A deeper probe into the founding period (1946–1952) of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno showed that Professor Růžena Tesařová was one of the greatest experts in the field of university training of kindergarten teachers in Czechoslovakia at that time. She belonged to the generation of students of Professor Otokar Chlup. She demonstrated exceptional organisational skills in the development of the pre-school curriculum. At the same time, she excelled in the field of theoretical research in preschool pedagogy. A dispute with a power group of four regime-installed teachers proved fatal for her promising career, culminating in her complete political and professional discredit and forced retirement in 1951. Thereafter, her name was to be erased forever from the institutional memory of the faculty. This study fills in one of the white spaces in the history of the faculty. Among other things, it also shows that when researching the history of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno and its components, one cannot limit oneself to a search of the sources stored in the university archives, but that it is also desirable to study in detail the various holdings in other regional and specialised archives.