Children as 'collateral damage' of nationalisation campaigns? The persecution of 'nationally unreliable' persons in Czechoslovakia after the Second World War

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F44555601%3A13410%2F21%3A43896374" target="_blank" >RIV/44555601:13410/21:43896374 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429199851" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429199851</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Children as 'collateral damage' of nationalisation campaigns? The persecution of 'nationally unreliable' persons in Czechoslovakia after the Second World War

Original language description

The end of the Second World War brought not only major political but also societal changes to re-established Czechoslovakia. The aim of the new government was to create a state comprised solely of Czechs and Slovaks. This resulted in a strict nationalization campaign accompanied by violence and the forced deportation of nearly three million Germans from Czechoslovak territories. Against this background, the following chapter illustrates the state?s approach towards a group of children whose very existence challenged the idea of national homogeneity ? those born of Czech-German relationships. Although Czechoslovak officials eventually established formalised legal protections for these children, they were nevertheless exposed to hostilities at the hands of local-level officials and community members. Juxtaposing sources from central and local authorities as well as oral history interviews, the chapter explores this discrepancy between the official policy and its implementation. By doing so, it sheds light on local interpretation(s) of Prague?s aim to achieve national homogeneity. Moreover, with the help of oral history interviews and their analysis, the chapter also explores the repercussions Czech-German children faced in their everyday lives due to their origins. Examining the state?s policy towards Czech-German children, its implementation on a local level as well as its consequences for the children themselves, the chapter provides insight into the impact a nationalization campaign had on individuals, and in particular on their national identity.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60101 - History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

Children Born of War: Past, Present and Future

ISBN

978-0-367-19013-2

Number of pages of the result

20

Pages from-to

212-231

Number of pages of the book

372

Publisher name

Routledge

Place of publication

London, New York

UT code for WoS chapter

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