Manchester University Press
2 A very long shadow
Abstract
The Munich Agreement is a highly emotional topic for the majority of Czechs and a considerable number of Slovaks. Yet knowledge of the events that led to Munich, and the Munich Conference itself, is characterised by a lack of understanding of its history and by black-and-white thinking. A key reason for the emotional reaction from a significant proportion of the Czech and Slovak population is both the forty years of use and misuse of the issue in communist propaganda, but also how the event has been treated by the mainstream media, within the historiography, and represented in politics and culture. Building on the previous historiography and using a wide range of primary sources, this chapter offers a brief description and analysis of the communist regime’s use of Munich in its historiography, ideology and propaganda. For the forty years of the communist regime, propaganda consistently portrayed Munich as follows: France and the United Kingdom were responsible for the Munich disaster, their treachery motivated by an imperialist desire to direct Hitler against the Soviet Union and let him destroy communism. They were helped in this by a Czechoslovak bourgeoisie who colluded with the foreign capitalists to make Munich possible. The Munich Agreement served as a legitimising tool throughout the four decades of communist rule. And, despite this regime collapsing in 1989, this narrative of Munich still affects Czechs and Slovaks today.
Abstract
The Munich Agreement is a highly emotional topic for the majority of Czechs and a considerable number of Slovaks. Yet knowledge of the events that led to Munich, and the Munich Conference itself, is characterised by a lack of understanding of its history and by black-and-white thinking. A key reason for the emotional reaction from a significant proportion of the Czech and Slovak population is both the forty years of use and misuse of the issue in communist propaganda, but also how the event has been treated by the mainstream media, within the historiography, and represented in politics and culture. Building on the previous historiography and using a wide range of primary sources, this chapter offers a brief description and analysis of the communist regime’s use of Munich in its historiography, ideology and propaganda. For the forty years of the communist regime, propaganda consistently portrayed Munich as follows: France and the United Kingdom were responsible for the Munich disaster, their treachery motivated by an imperialist desire to direct Hitler against the Soviet Union and let him destroy communism. They were helped in this by a Czechoslovak bourgeoisie who colluded with the foreign capitalists to make Munich possible. The Munich Agreement served as a legitimising tool throughout the four decades of communist rule. And, despite this regime collapsing in 1989, this narrative of Munich still affects Czechs and Slovaks today.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Czechoslovakia, Czecho-Slovakia and the Munich Agreement 19
- 2 A very long shadow 44
- 3 ‘Curs yapping round the dying stag’, or the rituals of fractured societies 66
- 4 ‘What, no chair for me?’ 90
- 5 Churchill, Munich and the origins of the Grand Alliance 112
- 6 Munich and the unexpected rise of American power 133
- 7 Mussolini, Munich and the Italian people 153
- 8 ‘England is pro-Hitler’ 171
- 9 Munich and the masses 192
- 10 Melanie Klein and the coming of the Second World War 213
- 11 The poet’s perspective on the Munich Crisis 234
- 12 Public opinion, policy makers and the Munich Crisis 251
- 13 France in the ‘blue light’ of Munich 273
- Index 296
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Czechoslovakia, Czecho-Slovakia and the Munich Agreement 19
- 2 A very long shadow 44
- 3 ‘Curs yapping round the dying stag’, or the rituals of fractured societies 66
- 4 ‘What, no chair for me?’ 90
- 5 Churchill, Munich and the origins of the Grand Alliance 112
- 6 Munich and the unexpected rise of American power 133
- 7 Mussolini, Munich and the Italian people 153
- 8 ‘England is pro-Hitler’ 171
- 9 Munich and the masses 192
- 10 Melanie Klein and the coming of the Second World War 213
- 11 The poet’s perspective on the Munich Crisis 234
- 12 Public opinion, policy makers and the Munich Crisis 251
- 13 France in the ‘blue light’ of Munich 273
- Index 296
