Full Description
The Jew in Czech and Slovak Imagination,1938-89 is the first critical inquiry into the nature of anti-Jewish prejudices in both main parts of former Czechoslovakia. The authors identify anti-Jewish prejudices over almost fifty years of the twentieth century, focusing primarily on the post-Munich period and the Second World War (1938-45), the post-war reconstruction (1945-48), as well as the Communist rule with both its thaws and returns to hardline rule (1948-89). It is a provocative examination of the construction of the image of 'the Jew' in the Czech and Slovak majority societies, the assigning of character and other traits - real or imaginary - to individuals or groups. The book analyses the impact of these constructed images on the attitudes of the majority societies towards the Jews, and on Holocaust memory in the country.
"This meticulously researched study covers the late 1930s to the 1960s in Czechoslovakia, then when Slovakia became a separate country under Nazi domination during WW II and much of the Czech Republic was a German 'protectorate.'...Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals." - R.M. Seltzer, emeritus, Hunter College, CUNY, in: CHOICE 55.12 (2018)
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Objectives, Terminology and Approach
1 The Public Image of the 'Jew' during the War
Czechs and Slovaks Picture Each Other
The 'Jew' and 1938
Film
'Kohn Greets Sara': Radio Waves and the Image of the Jew
Metaphors and Allegories of the 'Jew' in the Press
2 The 'Jew' in the Popular Opinion
Collaboration in the Protectorate and Slovakia
Methodology
The Regime in the Protectorate and in 'Independent' Slovakia
Robbery
The Breaking Point
Return of the Jews
3 The 'Jew' as a Reminder
Tales of Suffering
'We Know That You Are Not Guilty!': Origins of the Postwar Myths
Heroes and Cowards
Collaboration and Guilt
Jews as Collaborators
4 When They Write 'Zionist', They Mean 'Jew'
Czechoslovakia and Zionism until the Communist Takeover
Zionism As a Progressive Force?
Jew as a Zionist
Zionist Conspiracy with a 'Human Face'
Conclusion
Bibliography
