EN
The communist regime which took power in Czechoslovakia after February 1948 ruthlessly intervened in the lives of Slovakia’s folk puppeteers. Taking the case of one family of puppeteers, the Anderles of Radvaň, the author has attempted to show the absurdity of the totalitarian regime, which went from gradual censorship and restriction of the activities of folk puppeteers to banning them completely, thus causing the almost complete disappearance of an important part of cultural heritage of Slovakia. The first step towards the persecution of puppeteers in Slovakia was taken with the passing of the so-called Theatre Law in 1948. There followed a resolution from the meeting of puppeteers at Martin in 1949 and the qualifying examinations for folk puppeteers in 1952 and 1955. The 90-year-old tradition of the Anderles, folk puppeteers from Radvaň, culminated in their third-generation representative Anton Anderle (1944 – 2008), who was the last folk puppeteer in Slovakia. But even Anton Anderle was only able to perform freely after the changes which took place in our society after 1989.