Czechs and Germans 1848–2004: The Sudeten Question and the Transformation of Central Europe

Abstract

Václav Houžička’s Czechs and Germans 1848–2004, first published in Czech in 2005, offers a broad synthesis of the nationality politics involving Czechs and Germans over 150 years. Houžička seeks to explain the post-World War II expulsion of the Sudeten Germans based on a long-term analysis of the nationality conflicts in the Czech lands. He also explores the ongoing dialogue about the expulsions especially after the end of communist rule. The book has a decidedly anti-German bias, in that all of the problems that led to the expulsions and that have since made reconciliation difficult, the author argues, have been driven by German demands. While there has been no shortage of radical German nationalists, particularly in the past, the lack of a more nuanced view of Czech nationalist leaders and their role in creating and sustaining the ‘German problem’ gives the book itself a nationalist feel. The need for an English translation is particularly puzzling as Houžička overlooks the works by American scholars and others who have problematized the notion of fixed national identities in the Czech lands. Its reissue a decade after the Czech edition cannot speak to the current scholarship on these questions, which has since continued to grow. Furthermore, the translation itself is cumbersome and has a distinctly Central European feel as the translator decided to leave in place the lengthy sentences that mark Czech and German, an example of which follows below.