The Collegium Bohemicum in Ústí nad Labem, the Sudeten German Museum in Munich which Collective Memories should be Preserved, Promoted, and Passed On?

Abstract

The article deals with the two currently planned museum projects concerning the history of German inhabitants in the Czech lands: the Collegium Bohemicum in Usti nad Labem (Northern Bohemia), and the Sudeten German Museum in Munich (Bavaria). In both cases, a political mandate stands in the background, both projects reflect the specific forms of culture of remembrance of the bearers of historical discourse: the majority of Czech society and the second and third generation of expelled Sudeten Germans. Key concepts for the visitors to the museum in Usti are those of the “absence” of the Germans, and the “restitution” or “realization” of their history and cultural heritage. In Munich, the simple presentation of the Sudeten Germans is not what stands at the fore, but rather the key concepts of “loss” and “absence” of a homeland and the connected questions of identity. To this extent, both of the museum concepts appear to be relatively conservative and structurally similar.