Abstract
The focus of interest is on the Hussite Codex of Jena, a manuscript which originated in Bohemia around 1500 and had been stored at the University of Jena until 1951. In that year it became the object of a manuscript exchange. As a gesture of rectification for damages incurred during the Second World War, the then president of the German Democratic Republic (DDR), Wilhelm Pieck, presented it to his Czechoslovakian counterpart during a state visit to Prague. As a return present, the East Germans received another early medieval manuscript fragment. How did the press and professional circles react to this politically motivated exchange of manuscripts? Could it be dubbed a manuscript scandal? First of all, the article takes a look at the earlier history of the Jena Codex. Quintessential is then its political impact in terms of the communist ideology of history as seen in a German instructional film which was made in Czechoslovakia in 1954. Furthermore, the political background and the circumstances surrounding the collection of the codex in Jena and the reactions it caused are discussed here.
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