From Monarchy to Republic: Symbolic Assumption of Power in Zvolen County’s Towns as Reflected in Memorial Culture

Abstract

The main goal of the paper is to detect the creation and enhancement of the new Czechoslovak statehood and the Czechoslovak, let us say, the Slovak national identity after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The paper aimes at demonstrating and comparing the practice of the symbolic assumption and establishment of power via the example of memorial culture in public spaces in the territory of the most significant towns located in Zvolen county (Banská Bystrica, Brezno and Zvolen). There are also partial aims: namely, to make the reader acquainted with the form and symbolism in three distinct periods: before 1918, subsequently in the first years of integration of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia until 1920 or 1921, and finally in the first decade of the republic´s existence. Following the behavioral patterns of communal elites and inhabitants of these towns, facing new reality, it is also possible to take into consideration the social psychological processes such as acceptance, integration, adaptation, resistance, continuity, discontinuity, which were typical for the initial decade of the First Czechoslovak Republic´s establishment. Finally, yet importantly, it is possible to examine their attitude towards history and cultural heritage of their town.