Abstract
REVIEWS 559 offerings, such as the opening piece on 'Catherine through Contemporary British Eyes' (I997), which provides a context for the articleswhich follow. The new essay (pp. 29-44) is the first systematic attempt to trace British caricaturists'treatments of Russian themes during Catherine's reign. It is accompanied by several reproductions. As Anthony Cross notes, it was Catherine's 'misfortune'that her reign coincided with the careersof Gillray, Rowlandson, Newton, Cruikshankand other satirists,providing them with good Russian material either for inclusion in set pieces about dividing up the European 'cake' and making pacts with the Devil or for more personal allusionsto Catherine/Kate asa 'shrew'being tamed, to hersexualproclivities and her bloodthirsty share in dismembering Poland and Poles. Few Western writers on the period can resist illustratingtheir books with the anonymous 'AnImperialStride'(I79I), inwhich variousworldleaderslookup Catherine's skirts,but such images were not reproducedin Russia itselfeven in the Soviet period. Only recently have they become accessible to a wider public. Other articles, all written with Professor Cross's characteristic blend of wit and erudition, explore Catherine's knowledge of English (slight, apparently),her British-inspiredexperiments in gardening and penal and medical reform, a visit which she did not make to Ireland, her reputation as an author and various views of her, including Horace Walpole's implacably hostile one. These articles, written over two and a half decades, give an indication not only of the wide scope but also of the complexity of British-Russianrelations in the second halfof the eighteenth century.Their inclusionin a singlevolume with a usefulindex is most welcome. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies LINDSEY HUGHES University College London Hoffmann, Roland J., and Harasko, Alois (eds). Odsun:Die Vertreibung der Sudetendeutschen. Dokumentation zu Ursachen, PlanungundRealisierung einer 'ethnischen Sduberung' inderMitteEuropas I848/49-I945/46. Band i: Vom VolkerfruhlingundVolkerzwistI848/49 biszumMunchenerAbkommen I938 und zur Errichtungdes 'ProtektoratsBohmen und Mahren' I939. Veroffentlichung des Sudetendeutschen Archivs, Mtunchen, 2000. 944 pp.Index of names. DM 144.00. THEpublication by the Sudeten German Archive in Munich of a thousandpage collection of documents on the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakiamightelicitacollectivegroanofdespairfromthoseacquainted with the highly politicized and tendentious nature of German and Czech historiographieson the Vertreibung/Odsun. Those inclined towards an unsympathetic view of the Sudeten interpretation of history are nevertheless recommended to suspend judgement on the present work. Published in German with parallel Czech translation,it is an ambitious endeavour and a distinctdeparturefrompreviousSudeten German effortsin itsfield. Based on an exhibition that has been touring Germany since I995 and for a briefperiod even reached the EuropeanParliamentin Strasbourg,thiswork is the firstpart of what promisesto be a two, and possiblyeven three, volume 560 SEER, 8o, 3, 2002 study that traces the tragic history of Czech-German relations in BohemiaMoravia from the awakeningof the Czech national movement in I848 to the wholesale removal of the German-speaking population of reconstituted Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War. The present volume, which takes events up to I939, is comprised of two parts: an historical introductoryessayand severalhundreddocuments, maps andphotographs. In his introductoryessay, RolandJ. Hoffmann, the directorof the Sudeten GermanArchive,outlinesthe 'multi-perspectivecomparative'approach(p. 9) thathe has used in compiling thiscollection. Hoffmann arguesthat the nature of the Konftiktgemeinschaft in Bohemia-Moravia has to be understood within a broadertheoreticalframeworkthatencompassesthetwinthemesofdemocratization and nation-state formation, culminating in its most extreme form in the 'ethniccleansings'of the lastcentury.The choice of documentsis intended to reflect this contextual-thematic approach and a wide range of sources, beyond those relating directly to Bohemia-Moravia, are drawn upon. Accordingly, Hoffmann takesthe long view in his historicalsurvey, choosing the American Declaration of Independence as his startingpoint and ending with a useful discussion on the various German, Czech and English terminologyrelatedto thistheme. It is in the richnessof the documentarymaterialitselfthat the real strength of this volume lies, and it is evident that extensive research has gone into locating and selecting the documents, as well as the maps and photographs which are beautifullyreproduced courtesy of Alois Harasko. While German reviewershave focusedon detailssuch as the so-called 'Gregrplan' of I888 -a proposal by Young Czechs to radically reduce the number of Germans in Bohemia throughthe cessionof Sudeten Germanareas therearenumerous other fascinatingdocuments, many from hitherto unknown sources, that cast light on...
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