• Priority Area Boosting Fact-checking Activities in Europe
• Funding Round / Action Types 11th Funding Round – Urgent Actions
• Year 2025, 2026
• Country Czech Republic, Slovakia
• Project Status Ongoing

Post Bellum Slovakia, in partnership with Post Bellum Czech Republic, is launching a six-month initiative to counter historical disinformation in Slovakia and Czechia. Amid rising distortions of 20th-century history, this project will address deliberately distorted, falsified, or decontextualised narratives related to totalitarian regimes, resistance movements, minority persecution, and the memory of war crimes. These topics are increasingly instrumentalised in public discourse for political, ideological, or propagandistic purposes, undermining democratic memory, and whitewashing authoritarian regimes.

The project will establish a ‘Czechoslovak’ fact-checking unit to respond to manipulative historical narratives. It will publish at least 40 bilingual fact-checks using over 19,000 eyewitness testimonies and archival sources, focusing on topics like fascist collaboration, Holocaust denial, and communist repression. Fact-checks will be transformed into social media content, infographics, and short educational videos. Additionally, 5–10 “micro-lessons” will be developed with educators to support civic and historical education.

A shared monitoring system will track cross-border and hybrid threats, such as disinformation related to Russia’s war in Ukraine and nationalist propaganda. The project will culminate in an online event presenting findings and policy recommendations.

All outputs will be freely available, assisting educators, journalists, and civil society actors. By merging oral history with digital fact-checking, this project strengthens public resilience, media literacy, and the protection of historical truth and democratic values in Central Europe and beyond.