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From the ArchivesSeptember 1938: last-minute appeals for moderation as Hitler builds upforces on the Czech border
This week we continue our look into the dramatic events in Czechoslovakia
just before World War Two. By the summer of 1938, Hitler’s Germany was
demanding nothing less than the immediate annexation of the entire
Sudetenland – all parts of Bohemia and Moravia with a German speaking
majority. The Sudeten German Party had made big gains among German speakers
in local elections earlier that year, and the Nazi rhetoric of their
leaders was unambiguous. More
Current AffairsBavarian premier makes historic trip to Prague
The head of Germany’s biggest and most important region, Bavaria, is
making a landmark visit to the Czech Republic. The two-day trip by minister
president Horst Seehofer is the first ever being made by a Bavarian premier
to its neighbour since the end of WWII. While relations have been
complicated by recent history, this visit is putting the accent on the
present and future. More
Czech BooksExecuting justice in the retributions after WWII
Czechoslovakia was one of the first victims of the Nazis, with the march
into the Sudetenland in I938 followed by the occupation of the rest of the
country in March 1939 and an increasingly oppressive regime for most of the
population. The backlash at the end of WWII was harsh and violent. And that
backlash against the Nazi occupiers, Sudeten Germans and Czechs believed to
have collaborated in some way is the subject of US historian Benjamin
Frommer’s book “National Cleansing: Retribution against Nazi
Collaborators in Postwar Czechoslovakia.” More
Current AffairsPolice uncover human bones at alleged site of Sudeten German mass murder
A gruesome find has made headlines in the Czech Republic: police have
uncovered human remains in what appears to be a mass grave in a field near
the village of Dobronin, in the Jihlava region. Fifteen Germans are said to
have been brutally murdered there by the locals in the turbulent days after
the end of World War II. The discovery is the first piece of evidence
pertaining to this long-forgotten massacre and has once again re-opened a
dark chapter of Czech-German history.
More
One on OneAndreas Wiedemann on resettling the Czech borders
German journalist and historian Andreas Wiedemann is the author of a book
about the resettlement of the Sudetenland following the expulsion of the
German population at the end of World War II. The title translates from
German as ‛Come with us to the borderland: resettlement and new settlers
in the former Sudetenland 1945-1952.’ Unlike the expulsion, the
resettlement has been given scant coverage although the consequences still
scar large parts of the country. I asked him why he seized upon the
subject.
More
Current AffairsOpt-out granted, but not all share Klaus fears over Sudeten Germans
President Václav Klaus said he wanted an opt-out from the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights to shield Czech courts from European law, mentioning in
particular the prospect of property claims from Sudeten Germans – ethnic
Germans who were expelled en masse from what was then Czechoslovakia after
the war. But not everyone in the Czech Republic shares Mr Klaus’s
concerns, in fact some organisations highlight the country’s German
heritage as a positive thing. Rob Cameron visited the former Sudeten city
of Ústí nad Labem, and spoke to Ondřej Matějka from the NGO Anti-Komplex.
More
SpotlightThe Four Corners of the Czech Republic, Pt. II: The Sudetenland
On the one hand, marking off one’s territory is said to be a basic human
trait, and on the other, there is nothing that comes so naturally to people
as defying a boundary and exploring the other side. The Czech/German/Polish
tri-border is an excellent example of this. More
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