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

Cultural memory and its media have a productive power in constructing historical nar- ratives. Especially, in Central and Eastern Europe, memory is mostly created through bottom- up processes: The past is mediated in the public sphere and imagined in popular culture (Blacker, Etkind 2013: 10). The velvet revolution is followed by a memory boom in the Czech Republic, in which media acts as memory activists addressing tabooed memories. At a time where the last witnesses of the expulsion are passing away, the dying voice is taken up by media This thesis aims to explore the determinant patterns of the Czech narrative in post-1989 fiction. Particularly, it focuses on postmemorial representations. The thesis is based on an anal- ysis of five fictional works dealing with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans. The expulsion is embedded in the century-long co-habitation with the Sudeten German depicted as a neigh- bour. However, the Sudeten Germans are only incorporated into a regional but not the national Czech identity. While the expulsion is reframed in an ethical-legal framework, on a narrative level strategies of individualisation and universalisation are employed to make the past acces- sible for those born later.

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...

Presented diploma thesis with name "Es kommt der Tag...Heims ins Reich?" Expulsion of Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia on example of town Prachatice introduces in detail, on the basis of still existing archival materials with normality, steps against people with German nationality after the end of the Second World War. The issue was restriction of their own rights, loss of Czechoslovakia citizenship, in some cases also of freedom, their categorization, assembly for expulsion purpose and transfer of these persons outside borders of Czechoslovakia. The thesis describes in detail course of expulsion, from genesis of this idea to its assertion and preparation to its actual realization. Important part of this thesis is its subsequent application of the presented general facts at specific place town Prachatice. Thanks to it an extensive list with names of German citizens divided according to individual despatched transports and according to original house's numbers of people, who were put in these transports, was created.

"Outdoor Education" and German Scout-Type Youth Organizations in the Czech Lands Title: "Outdoor Education" and German Scout-Type Youth Organizations in the Czech Lands Abstract: The thesis deals with the formation and history of German youth organizations in the Czech Lands. It especially covers those organizations that either directly referred to the Scout movement originating in the UK or US, or at least adopted the fundamental educational methods and principles of working with the youth which were typical for these movements. These organizations marked a revolutionary change in the approach to youth and their education. Such a change was possible thanks to a series of philosophical, pedagogical and political transformations in the society. Scout movements were especially built on the modern philosophical theories based on the ideas of American and German philosophers. However, the roots of this approach to nature and to human education can be traced to the early modern era, when the first modern approaches to teaching appeared and were generally applied under the changing economic and social environment of a modern society. In addition to philosophy, the movement was also influenced by a number of other social, political, ideological and cultural phenomena. The origins of these organizations can be seen...

Diploma thesis "The Consequences of Munich Agreement for economy and society of Czechoslovakia" deals with the Munich Agreement and the impacts of this Agreement on the former Czechoslovakia. The aim of the work is based on archival materials and secondary literature for comparison how crucial was the change of the economic and social system "as a result" of the Munich Agreement. This thesis also analyzes on what was based the economy of the First Czechoslovak Republic, what form the social structure had, how economy has evolved and how significant were impacts by totalitarian regimes on society. At first, the economy was influenced by the Great Depression followed by consequences of the Munich Agreement, which is the main subject of the thesis. The emphasis is on understanding the situation before the Munich Agreement, subsequently reactions of society which were documented immediately in connection with the implementation of specific actions related to the seizure of the territory. At the end of the main part of the thesis, economic and social changes are analyzed in particular. The issue of the Munich Agreement is examined from the perspective of the former Czechoslovakia (Second Czechoslovak Republic), and the emphasis is on understanding the contemporary people's mentality and behavior of...

"Outdoor Education" and German Scout-Type Youth Organizations in the Czech Lands Title: "Outdoor Education" and German Scout-Type Youth Organizations in the Czech Lands Abstract: The thesis deals with the formation and history of German youth organizations in the Czech Lands. It especially covers those organizations that either directly referred to the Scout movement originating in the UK or US, or at least adopted the fundamental educational methods and principles of working with the youth which were typical for these movements. These organizations marked a revolutionary change in the approach to youth and their education. Such a change was possible thanks to a series of philosophical, pedagogical and political transformations in the society. Scout movements were especially built on the modern philosophical theories based on the ideas of American and German philosophers. However, the roots of this approach to nature and to human education can be traced to the early modern era, when the first modern approaches to teaching appeared and were generally applied under the changing economic and social environment of a modern society. In addition to philosophy, the movement was also influenced by a number of other social, political, ideological and cultural phenomena. The origins of these organizations can be seen...

The basic aim of the thesis is to provide a sufficient image of the German minority's, the so-called "Sudeten-Germans'", legal status in the first Czechoslovak republic. The author of the thesis decided to include also a brief outline of the legal status of nations in the era of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy besides the analysis of all the three law of national minorities mainstays, the way they are specified by today's jurisprudence, together with the description of their origin circumstances. This was the time when both the real and theoretical basis of the issue were formed, going hand in hand with historical events that predetermined the following historical development in this case. Space is also given to the international political situation which had, together with the international legislation, essential influence on the origins of domestic legislation dealing with the German minority's status and its incorporation into the Czechoslovak republic itself. The thesis is divided in two basic parts - Cisleithanian Law of National Minorities and Czechoslovak Law of National Minorities and Protection of Minorities. The first of them is formed by two chapters, out of which one is aiming at outlining the legal and political dimension of the Czecho-German question on the background of the...