The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Art in the years 1945-1952

The development of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts in the turbulent period 1945-1952 documents the illusory nature of ideas about the possibility of the autonomous development of science and research in a society experiencing great political shocks. The article analyses the political and ideological influences that inevitably directed the functioning of the academy. The institution was formally apolitical, but, in reality, it was largely dependent on the current government, so it inevitably became an object of political struggles in the state. The aim of the article is also to point out how the academy attempted to make pragmatic use of the current political situation to achieve the status of the leading institution in Slovak science and research.