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The subjects of this paper are place names as immaterial sites of commemoration. In a linguistic perspective, the paper analyses how exonyms and endonyms are semantically up-loaded respectively re-loaded in use. Proceeding on the assumption that proper names have no "meaning" in the traditional sense, it is argued that, beyond their denotative semantics (pure reference to the place), they may be enriched with connotative semantics (encyclopedic knowledge, first; ideological belief, second) and with illocutional semantics (what is intended, or not, by using them). Historically burdened place-names turn out to be extremely susceptible to semantic re-motivation and pragmatic re-contextualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the tourism in places in connection with "class struggle" during the era of state socialism in Czechoslovakia. During the time of economic crisis in the 1930s, there were some incidents between gendarmerie and striking workers in the areas of high unemployment. These events were misused in the propaganda as legitimization of the Communist Party's leading role after the 1948 revolution. These places of "class struggle" were privileged in hierarchy of heritage preservation during the communist era (1948-1989). The author focuses on sources connected with tourism (guidebooks, maps) and raises the question if historical agents and society adopted these places. The methodological remarks are an important part of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is well known the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 to 1620 caused a broad media echo far beyond the Holy Roman Empire. Subsequently the three comets which appeared in large parts of Europe in fall and winter 1618/1619 triggered a similar long-running debate. This is reflected by a large series of treatises, pamphlets and letters as well as nomorous notes in contemporary chronicles and diaries used as the main sources for this article. In this light the paper discusses the controversy on the comets of 1618/19 with respect to the later escalation of the Bohemian Revolt to an European war. Both synchronous and retrospective views on these events will be examined indicating a significant shift of time horizons since 1621/22. Until then most pamphletists and writers didn't associate the celestical signs of 1618/1619 with the bohemian rebellion or an even wider war. Afterwards this historical connection was quick to establish itself in contemporary chronicles and diaries reflecting above all a change of communicative memory on both affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the theorists of "entangled" and "dialogical memory" (F. Krawatzek, G. Feindt, A. Assmann, M. Rothberg, etc.), the paper deals with the dialogical/monological character of collective remembrance in new digital media, such as the hypertext Wikipedia. It focuses on the negotiation of the representations of dramatic events of World War II, such as the Munich Agreement or the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia that exceed the national frameworks of remembrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the correspondence between the translator Alexander Eliasberg (1878-1924) and the German publishing house Insel-Verlag this paper explores the social, material and mental dimensions of their relationship from the point of view of cultural semiotics. Understanding the culture of translation as a semiosphere (according to Jury Lotman's definition) furthers the insight into the dynamics and the (historical, sociocultural) conditions of the process of Russian-German cultural mediation. It also allows us to draw conclusions on Eliasberg's concept of translation and the role of translation as a medium. One of Eliasberg's translations from Tolstoy for the book series Insel-Bücherei, published in 1913, serves as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper tries to examine how and why Honza Krejcarová happened to turn into a mythic figure of Czech underground. The second part discusses the question, why the real person and authoress is ignored by this very myth and -- even more -- is not met with reception in literary history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1918 founding of the independent Czechoslovak Republic completely changed the political and social framework of the mutual Czech-German literary transfer. In lieu of the multi-national state of the Habsburg monarchy, the discursive and institutional field of the mediating of Czech literature to the German readership was delineated by the issue of ethnic minorities, as a new instrument of foreign cultural policy. Against this historical background, the paper follows the genesis of the German translation of Jaroslav Durych's Bloudení, brought out in 1933 as Friedland by Piper Publishing in Munich, and maps the particular mediating processes and networks and the thus incited debates regarding the direction of Czechoslovak foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper concentrates on selected passages from Uwe Johnson's opus magnum, Jahrestage (Anniversaries), in which the Prague Spring and the events of 1968 play a key role, and develops some ideas on how narrations of history and critique of language can jointly (as a translation of sorts) be understood as a critical approach to what is taken to be the present and the reality of the past. It is argued that Hannah Arendt's notion of the unpredictability of the future and of the event variously influenced the modalities of narration as employed by Johnson. The central issue of Jacques Derrida's Prague lecture on how a city determines 'our' modes of (self-)preception and how a location can be grasped and 'dated' in writing is put to use in order to develop a singular perspective on some neglected aspects in Johnson's work. Johnson's novel and its commentaries form a diverse reflection on time, reality, and the media which can affirm its contemporaneity when understood as exemplary in contesting, by the voice of literature, the functionalization of history and its narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sons-in-law and their role in Přemyslid Bohemia (A contribution to the foreign policy of Czech monarchs from the end of the 10th to the beginning of the 14th century.) The study shows the importance of marriages of the daughters of Czech rulers of Přemyslide period to the political goals of their fathers. An analysis of the known facts about the marriages of the Přemyslids and their partners shows that the choice of partners of the ruler's descendants was subordinated to their political interests and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Der Aufsatz stellt die deutsche Reichsgründung von 1871 in den Kontext der Nationalstaatsbildungen in Europa seit Beginn der Frühen Neuzeit. Das Deutsche Reich, begründet als ein fester Zusammenschluss der deutschen Bundesstaaten mit Ausnahme Österreichs, schaffte es tatsächlich, einen historischen Ausgleich zwischen den partikularen Traditionen und den neueren Einheitsbestrebungen in Deutschland zu erreichen. Die hierdurch bewirkten Integrationsprozesse politischer, sozialer und wirtschaftlicher Natur festigten und stärkten den mitteleuropäischen Raum, beseitigten die durch übermäßige politische Fragmentierung bewirkten früheren Schwächen, schufen aber bis 1914 auch kein „zu starkes" Deutschland, wie spätere verfehlte Deutungen behaupteten. Auf den Integrationsleistungen der Jahrzehnte nach 1871 beruht im Kern auch noch das heutige, seit 1990 wiedervereinigte Deutschland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All the works, dealing with the nationality problem fundamentally, need a kind of generally applicable basis in the form of a consensus in connection with the usage of theoretical concepts like people and nation. In the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy primarily the complexity of factors and the lack of unity meant a problem that also characterised the particular Austrian nationality question. So, in the contemporary Austria, three radically different elements were against each other. Various ethnic groups, as well as the historical units of kingdoms and provinces were opposing the central power whilst the demands of the ethnic groups in comparison with the demands of the other two groups became more and more significant and radical. Nation and nationality are the products of social development, thus cannot be defined without the consideration of the geographical and chronological scope in question; in other words, in the Habsburg Monarchy of the 19th century, one way to define nation and nationality led through the contemporary theories of these concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite of the fact that studies on the topic of "places of remembrance" reached an inflationary number in the last decades, the article argues for the need of new perspectives in this field. They are identified as bilateral and transnational "places of remembrance", valid not only for a national community but also for smaller communities on regional and transregional levels. With the definitions of the key concepts "remembrance" and "places", the article strives to sketch out the theoretical background for studies, dealing with specific problems of German-Czech or Bavarian-Bohemian histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with pictures of the Czech borderlands as part of the Czechoslovak cultural memory. It focuses on the Photo Editing Department of the Czechoslovak News Agency ČTK that was the main player in the fields of creating, storing, mediating, and consolidating visual knowledge (not only about the borderlands). It also gives insight into the Photo Editing Department's practices of categorizing and keywording pictures, which had consequences on further publications of certain photos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text analyzes Ernesto Che Guevara's classified stay in Czechoslovakia between March and July 1966. The emphasis is placed on the cooperation that existed between the Czechoslovak and Cuban secret services. Through published studies, memoirs, interviews and Che Guevara's files, the article provides valuable insights and dispels some of the myths surrounding a mostly unknown period in the life of the famous Argentinean revolutionary. Attention is also paid to a theoretical document which Che Guevara created during his stay in Czechoslovakia. His remarks criticizing the Soviet "road to socialism" represent the biggest legacy of Che Guevara's stay in Czechoslovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following study attempts to analyse an aspect of Czechoslovakian-German relations during the so called "Second Republic" (October 1938 - March 1939) that has until now stayed out of researchers' interests, namely the entries in the so-called station chronicles. This almost unknown source provides us a specific point of view on the atmosphere of the given period because of its combination of institutional and personal characteristics. The most focused part are the weeks in autumn 1938, when Czechoslovakia was forced to withdraw large parts of its area to Germany which led to massive and simultaneously chaotic changes that the railway transport had to react on. Extraordinary efforts were requested in both personal and freight traffic. The aim of the study is to consider these entries as lieu de mémoire and to find answers on following questions: Is it possible to read about the feelings of the people in these entries, or are they written strictly objectively? How are the Germans described, as enemies with no hope for future, or as colleagues suffering under the same circumstances? For the purpose of the study, chronicles both from border and inland regions have been used to detect eventual differences that might be compared as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this Article are chronicles of 13th and 14th Century -- Chronicle of Otokar of Styria (Ottokars Österreichische Reimchronik) and World Chronicle of Jans Enikel (Jansen Enikels Weltchronik). These sources seem similar to each other, e.g. due to the poetic form, Middle High German language and a similar social position of the chroniclers, who were probably the secular people. The Chronicle of Otokar of Styria is not a simple World Chronicle. Otokar's text contains his description of the divided Central European region between 1246 and 1309. World Chronicles usually covered the tales of Holy Scripture, history of Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome up to the present days of chroniclers. These are not to be found read in Otokar's Chronicle. We can find different models of a royal ideal in both of the sources. For example, in The World Chronicle of Jans Enikel, King David is presented as a perfect ruler of biblical times, Alexander the Great as a brave, but later haughty and depraved one, and Charlemagne as a quick-witted and keen king and emperor. Many rulers are mentioned in the Chronicle of Otokar of Styria, on the top there are Ottokar II. of Bohemia and Rudolf I. of Habsburg. Both Chroniclers, Otokar of Styria and Jans Enikel, used the same terms for royal ideals. But only from The Enikel's World Chronicle is it obvious, that these qualities had an example in the Bible and in The Ancient Times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italian aggression against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 placed Czechoslovak diplomacy in a predicament. On the one hand, as a member state of the League of Nations, the First Czechoslovak Republic was obliged to preserve the integrity and independence of other League members, including Abyssinia, and to apply at least economic sanctions against any aggressor. On the other hand, as a product of the First World War, Czechoslovakia was highly interested in maintaining the post-war order in Central Europe against growing German revisionism. Here, apart from France and Great Britain, Czechoslovak diplomats put their hopes in Italy as well and were particularly anxious to gain Mussolini for the defence of Austria. In light of this dilemma, the article examines the attitude and behaviour of foreign minister Edvard Beneš, who was not only Czechoslovakia's leading diplomat but also the country's principal actor in the League of Nations, where the Abyssinian crisis had been on the agenda since the beginning of 1935. As far as Beneš' role in the League is concerned, the study focuses on the sixteenth Assembly in autumn 1935, of which Beneš was elected president. While previous works on Czechoslovakia's Abyssinian policy are mainly based on documents from the Archives of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry, this article also uses sources from the League of Nations Archives in Geneva and the Archives of the Masaryk-Institute in Prague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Habsburg Empire was approved of temporary occupy Bosnia-Herzegovina on the Berliner Conference. Accordingly to the Article 25 of the Berliner Treaty and the agreement between Vienna and Istanbul on April 1879, Bosnia-Herzegovina was still under sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. The Habsburgs executives maintained this provisional status in both provinces until 1908. Furthermore, Bosnia-Herzegovina was a common administrative district (in German, Reichsland) between Austria and Hungary. The Habsburg Empire finally declared the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina on 6 October 1908. Alois Lexa Aehrenthal, Common Foreign Minister of the Habsburg Empire, become the focus of researcher for this theme. But I point out that it was István Burián, the Common Finance Minister of the Habsburg Empire (1903-1912), who proposed the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time. Burián presented memoranda proposing the annexation to Emperor Franz Joseph in May 1907 and April 1908. But the revolution of the Young Turks was a decisive opportunity to annexation. Therefore we should not overestimate Burián's role in the annexation attempt. But his memoranda not only stimulated leading circles of the Habsburg Empire to consider annexation but also helped matters develop more smoothly in Vienna after the revolution of the Young Turks. As Burián himself later wrote, we should regard him as the true proponent of annexation. However the analysis about an annexation law, that was founded on the Habsburg's succession law (in German, Pragmatische Sanktion), proves that the decision-making process for imperial affairs through the common cabinet and the minister conference was very complicated and lacked a coordinating function. A full account of annexation reveals the pluralistic and inefficient policymaking of the Habsburg Empire under dual system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cliometrics as a method is a part of the so-called New Economic History as well as the Global History. Cliometrics was created in the United States of America at the Purdue University. Stanley Reiter, Robert William Fogel, Douglass Cecil North, Lance Davis, Alfred Conrad, and John Meyer are amongst the most influential representatives of cliometrics. The following study examines cliometrics as a method of economic history and compares it to the traditional (European) method of historical research -- the historical perspective method. As a part of the study, cliometrics is compared to other research perspectives of liberal arts or social sciences that are based on calculations and quantitative data. The study also discusses the criticism that describes cliometrics as a purely ahistorical research method and presents its own interpretation of the term "applied cliometrics," as well as its meaning, its advantages, and the expandability of this method in the current economy history discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Austrian-Czechoslovakian economic relations constitute a special case auf Austria's Osthandel (Eastern Trade) in the Cold War era. The reasons for this can be traced back to the historical development of economic exchange as well as the complicated political relations between Vienna and Prague. Against this historical background and the context of Austria's Ostpolitik and Osthandel after 1945, the study delivers a first analysis of economic interactions in the Kreisky era (1970-1983). The post-1945 development of bilateral relations between the two Central European neighbors also hindered improvement on the economic level. In comparison to other Socialist states, Austria's nationalized industries played a rather small roll in trade with Czechoslovakia. Despite good will on both sides, negotiations on the ministerial level remained complicated. While most COMECON members (except the Soviet Union) continuously faced severe trade balance deficits with Austria, Czechoslovakia's balance was usually active. By the end of the 1970s, Austria's deficit grew massively. Additionally, this article presents case studies on trilateral cooperation in the fields of economic and energy supplies. The difficulties in realizing those projects with Poland or Hungary strengthen the image of a highly heterogeneous "Eastern bloc". The analysis is primarily based on Austrian and East German archival sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]