Abstract
The goal of the paper is to clarify one of the most controversial chapters of the life of Prof. Josef Cibulka: the times of the Second Czechoslovakian Republic and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and his directorship of the National Collections of Old Art (i.e., the National Gallery).
Despite Cibulka’s poorly hidden tendencies driven against the German occupation he was awarded the only decoration the Nazis made for the Czech people: the Honour Shield of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, i.e., the Eagle of the St. Wenceslaus.
Until now there was no interest of professional historians focused on this particular decoration. Thus, there is much of prejudice and inaccuracies on such topic, which became the subject of the diploma thesis of the author of the presented paper.
The paper is combining the conclusions of the diploma thesis with the case of Prof. Josef Cibulka.
It indicates that Cibulka’s persisting integrity in the eyes of the Czechoslovakian judicial apparatus after 1945 with regard to the Honour Shield was not just Cibulka being lucky or having good connections. Much more likely it was a natural conclusion of general approach of the justice to this group of decorated people.