At the end of the Second World War, in August 1945, the Allies met at Potsdam and passed the decision to expel millions of people of German heritage living in Eastern Europe. Among some 3 million expelled from the Sudetenland in the Czechoslovak borderlands, were the violin makers of Schönbach. After the expulsion, German integration authorities attempted to resettle the Schönbach violin makers in Mittenwald, Bavaria. Though the village of Mittenwald was famous for its violin making industry, the integration of the two communities failed and the Schönbach masters were relocated a second time. The failure was due in large part to the two communities' inability to integrate their distinct violin making cultures. The study addresses the resettlement process from the perspective of government officials, local Germans and expellees and the debates among these groups in the postwar era. It is through these interacting perspectives that one comes to understand the culture of each community, the agency of its members, and the complexity of the resettlement process on a local level. Using Mittenwald as a case study, I argue that the process of integrating two German cultures was problematic, as each community sought to maintain their own local, cultural identity rather than subscribe to a shared German national identity. The failure of the Mittenwald plan demonstrates the pertinence of the local culture of each community and the limitations of a national imaginary in general processes of forced migration and resettlement.

At the end of the Second World War, in August 1945, the Allies met at Potsdam and passed the decision to expel millions of people of German heritage living in Eastern Europe. Among some 3 million expelled from the Sudetenland in the Czechoslovak borderlands, were the violin makers of Schönbach. After the expulsion, German integration authorities attempted to resettle the Schönbach violin makers in Mittenwald, Bavaria. Though the village of Mittenwald was famous for its violin making industry, the integration of the two communities failed and the Schönbach masters were relocated a second time. The failure was due in large part to the two communities' inability to integrate their distinct violin making cultures. The study addresses the resettlement process from the perspective of government officials, local Germans and expellees and the debates among these groups in the postwar era. It is through these interacting perspectives that one comes to understand the culture of each community, the agency of its members, and the complexity of the resettlement process on a local level. Using Mittenwald as a case study, I argue that the process of integrating two German cultures was problematic, as each community sought to maintain their own local, cultural identity rather than subscribe to a shared German national identity. The failure of the Mittenwald plan demonstrates the pertinence of the local culture of each community and the limitations of a national imaginary in general processes of forced migration and resettlement.

At the end of the Second World War, in August 1945, the Allies met at Potsdam and passed the decision to expel millions of people of German heritage living in Eastern Europe. Among some 3 million expelled from the Sudetenland in the Czechoslovak borderlands, were the violin makers of Schönbach. After the expulsion, German integration authorities attempted to resettle the Schönbach violin makers in Mittenwald, Bavaria. Though the village of Mittenwald was famous for its violin making industry, the integration of the two communities failed and the Schönbach masters were relocated a second time. The failure was due in large part to the two communities' inability to integrate their distinct violin making cultures. The study addresses the resettlement process from the perspective of government officials, local Germans and expellees and the debates among these groups in the postwar era. It is through these interacting perspectives that one comes to understand the culture of each community, the agency of its members, and the complexity of the resettlement process on a local level. Using Mittenwald as a case study, I argue that the process of integrating two German cultures was problematic, as each community sought to maintain their own local, cultural identity rather than subscribe to a shared German national identity. The failure of the Mittenwald plan demonstrates the pertinence of the local culture of each community and the limitations of a national imaginary in general processes of forced migration and resettlement. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The thesis deals with the relationship between two main politicians of Henlein´s party who significantly participated in destruction of democratic Czechoslovakia at the end of the thirties in 20th century. They are a leader of Sudeten German party Konrad Henlein and his deputy Karl Hermann Frank. The thesis focuses on the events, actions and activities done before World War II by those two assistants of Adolf Hitler and also on the relationships between them. The major part of this thesis discusses the cooperation and relationship between these two Nazi politicians.

(in English) The presented diploma thesis analyzes German borderland novels (Grenzlandroman) of the interwar period, namely Robert Hohlbaum's Grenzland (1921), Rudolf Haas' Heimat in Ketten (1924), Das Dorf an der Grenze (1936) by Bruno Nowak, writing under the pseudonym Gottfried Rothacker, and Die Brüder Tommahans (1937) by Wilhelm Pleyer. As a literary genre, the borderland novel took conflict between nations as its central theme, while addressing contemporary or recent social evolution. German borderland novels from interwar Czechoslovakia give evidence of how not only the authors but also the whole social groups reflected societal changes in the aftermath of 1918. An analysis of the narratives typical of this segment of literature confirms its relevance to the formation of the German population's identity in interwar Czechoslovakia. Stereotyping mechanisms play a crucial role in instilling abstract notions of nationality in the everyday perception of ordinary people. The borderland novels' narrative practices contribute to the reconstruction and fixation of this stereotypical perception of reality. This perception not only affects the way individuals and social groups view their surrroundings, but also interferes with the interpretation of events. Analysis of the selected texts enables us to...

The aim of this work is the interpretation of the available biographical data of all deputies and senators of the Czechoslovak National Assembly, who worked in a joint parliamentary club of the Sudeten German Party (SGP) and the Karpaten German Party (KGP) in the period from the entry of the czechoslovak parliament in 1935 to the Anschluss of Austria in the spring of 1938. The Sudeten German Party became after the elections in 1935 the strongest party in the interwar Czechoslovakia by number of votes and played a significant role in the pre- Munich era. The stated objective of the unification of the entire German population in Czechoslovakia was largely fulfilled, thus the party became very heterogeneous. Using the methods of collective biography the work is aimed at providing all available sources to obtain data on the social and political background as well as on the various political and professional careers of the particular party officials who represented the SGP resp. the KDP in the Czechoslovak parliament and on the basis of these data should the results be put into the historical and social context and their common and different features be interpreted. The work assumes that with the help of this method there can be obtained new perspectives on the development within the SGP, which would be...