Area E

Disputes on domination and emancipation

Panel E1: “Politically, socially and culturally equal?” The difficult emancipation of women in post-war society

The Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, a political programme document prepared in fall of 1918, promised, among others, that “women will be politically, socially and culturally equal to men”. Except for several changes, mostly implemented right after the war (election right, opportunity to divorce, abolition of forced celibacy for female teachers, admission to certain fields of study and jobs which had been forbidden to women previously), the political programme in this area remained largely unimplemented. This section will focus on the question of which specific political processes or political and social forces were in favour of or against the improvement of the position of women and their political, social and cultural emancipation in individual Central European countries. Subtopics include women’s work and demobili-zation from jobs they took during the war, political activization of women and radical forms of emancipation as well as theoretical and programme discussions and plans or visions which were not carried out. Contributions comparing the situation in individual Central European countries would be appreciated.

Dana Musilová – Jana Burešová (chair)

Panel E2: The question of nationality – discourse, reflection and conflicts of the time

Czech and Slovak historiography has overcome the phase of uncritical defence of the narrative of inter-war Czechoslovakia being an island of democracy, and it is currently capable of deeper reflections on German, Polish, Hungarian and other national movements, and their ambitions and goals. From rather general topics, we have selected the methodology of research of national movements and analyses of national identification in various social classes and reflection on texts on the “nationality question”. In particular, comparative contributions across the spectrum of national movements, and analyses of their social structure and internal conflicts among various opinion streams would be highly appreciated. Contributions can also focus on critical reflection on subtopics such as the activities of irredentist members of parliament in the National Assembly of German Austria, Czech – German disputes on district and land self-government, the role of German districts in the political and economic life of the country (emergence of “new peripheries”), the activity of administrative committees nominated by the Czechoslovak government, autonomous bodies, and the activities of Hungarian nationalists during the Hungarian and Slovak Soviet Republics.

Thomas Oellermann – Piotr M. Majewski (chair)

Panel E3: Sexual reform: liberated emotions, liberated bodies

In the republic’s early years, various social movements aimed at changing the approach of the state and society towards sexual and reproductive life made their voices louder in the public space. This effort towards “sexual reform” responded to international efforts of that time and was concerned with sexual education, contraception and prostitution, among others. As early as the first half of the 1920s, Czechoslovakia saw attempts to abolish the criminality of abortion and homosexual intercourse in the context of the new criminal code that was being prepared, as the respective articles of the old criminal code were considered as the oppression of innocent people in the perspective of the proponents of reform. In this section, we would welcome contributions focused on the activity of movements or their protagonists in this era, analyses of their methods, as well as the activities and arguments of their opposition or the general public debate on these topics in Central Europe.

Jan Seidl (chair)

Panel E4: Health, social hygiene and disability

Even after it was over, the war remained present in society in the form of long-term or permanent consequences ranging from injuries, disfigurements and health problems, to epidemics and the generally weak health condition of the population, among others as a result of malnutrition. Health problems were also connected with social consequences. This section provides the opportunity to research the concepts of health in relation to modernization, nationalism and establishment of the social order in inter-war Czechoslovakia. We would welcome contributions on awareness and social hygienic movements (eugenics, the temperance movement, social medicine, etc.), and transnational expert networks and their impact on healthcare policies in Central Europe. There is a wide range of possible perspectives on the given era; we would mainly appreciate contributions on treatment, rehabilitation and modernization as well as the formation of relations between the centre and the periphery and the establishment of power hierarchies and social relations (among classes, nations, cultures, etc.).

Filip Herza – Kateřina Kolářová (chair)

Panel E5: The Roma and the Jews: repression, emancipation and possibilities for comparisons?

The ethos of Czechoslovakia as a victorious, modern state built on the principles of humanity and democracy, which was connected with the international political situation, was also projected in changes to the legal term of “minority”. In which way did the new state’s ideological and to a certain extent also legislative framework manifest itself in the approach of the state offices to Roma and Jews and in their everyday lives? Is it possible to compare the causes and forms of physical or symbolic repression (or integration efforts) towards these two groups? What do the differences or similarities in the approach of the government, local authorities, social movements and other agents tell us of that time? And what does the difference in interest in today’s historians in either the Jewish or Roma minorities of that period tell us?

Pavel Baloun (chair)