Area C

Borders – centre – periphery

Panel C1: Brother, investor, or colonist? The east of the Czechoslovakia – approaches and reflections

The relationship between the power centre (Prague) and the eastern parts of the republic presents a specific issue worth exploring. Did the former periphery of Upper Hungary simply become the new periphery of Czechoslovakia? What were the ideas of those who formed and implemented the plans to involve Slovakia in the economic and political structures of the new state? What cultural and symbolic frameworks did these concepts define? What type and intensity of conflicts and which of their representatives can we name? What were the plans and proposals for modernization and public investment in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia which were not carried out? It is desirable to research the approach of non-state parties, such as rent-seekers. Areas to be covered include the nature of investment in Slovakia and the ways of utilizing a cheaper, less qualified and less union-organized labour force or cheaper natural resources.

Miroslav Michela (chair)

Panel C2: Transformation of borders of the economic space and road networks: movement and energy on new routes

A primary task for the Czechoslovak state’s future was to transform transportation networks mostly oriented on Vienna and Budapest and adapting them to new traffic and general economic needs as well as the country’s strategic and military requirements. We wish to cover topics regarding new connections, the planning and building of new roads (in the broader sense) and networks (electrical, telegraph). A special question is that of building the strategic infrastructure in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. The research should focus on their economic as well as symbolic and political (or power) importance. Attention is also to be given to plans which were not carried out and to the discussions of the time. Contributions from the areas of economic, social and legal history and other disciplines will be appreciated.

Ivan Jakubec – Jan Štemberk (chair)

Panel C3: Migration – citizenship – asylum

What was the practical impact of legally-regulated affiliation with a certain geographical entity (citizenship, domicile) on people’s everyday lives? An important phenomenon of that time was both voluntary and non-voluntary (directly or indirectly forced) relocations of people within the borders of the new state. On the territory of the new state, there were tens of thousands of people with no citizenship (“stateless persons”) with many of them being refugees, mainly from Russia and Poland. There was also both spontaneous and controlled immigration of former economic migrants and other people with local roots to the “old homeland(s)”, whether from Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia, the USA or other countries. What were their legal and social statuses, how did the discussion on the legal characteristics and requirements for citizenship or residence in Czechoslovakia develop and what forms of repression were used in regards to refugees and migrants? How did internal migration within the state develop, e.g., between industrial and rural areas or between the German borderlands and Czech inland, and what was the role of the domicile?

Vít Strobach (chair)