From Neo-Slavism to Internationalism: Interwar Central Europe and the Search for the Lost Mountains

Carolin F. Roeder

doi:10.1017/s0960777319000171

Abstract

AbstractThis article highlights the contribution of East Central Europe to interwar internationalism by showing how solutions to regional challenges gave birth to theUnion internationale des associations d'alpinisme(UIAA), a permanent international organisation for mountaineering. The territorial fragmentation caused by the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire required alpine clubs to lobby for the softening of new political borders while simultaneously contributing to state building efforts. Successful experiences with bilateral agreements in the Tatras and re-emerging Neo-Slavist ideas led to the founding of the Association of Slavic Tourist Organization in 1924, which in turn motivated the establishment of the UIAA. The leading figures in this process were alpinists with a distinct internationalist profile who navigated seamlessly between their role as agents of the state and private citizens.

Highlights

In August 1932 representatives from almost fifty alpine, tourist and ski clubs hailing from twenty countries convened at the Third International Alpine Congress in the French town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
This article highlights the contribution of East Central Europe to interwar internationalism by showing how solutions to regional challenges gave birth to the Union internationale des associations d’alpinisme (UIAA), a permanent international organisation for mountaineering
The condescending tone of the alpinist flagrantly displayed British chauvinism towards the newly independent states. His statement projected a hierarchy of European nations in which the new states, the names of which he did not care to mention, occupied a place at the margins. His demeaning footnote underlined a point Milan Kundera made in the 1980s, when he wrote in a famous essay of the ‘curtain of their strange and scarcely accessible languages’ that inhibited the full integration of East Central Europe into the wider consciousness of Europe.[4]

Summary

Introduction

In August 1932 representatives from almost fifty alpine, tourist and ski clubs hailing from twenty countries convened at the Third International Alpine Congress in the French town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.

Results

Conclusion