Cover Osteuropa 8-10/2008

In Special Issue

The Rediscovery of the Jews
Czech History Books since 1989

Marlis Sewering-Wollanek

Full text file (PDF, 231 kB)

Abstract

The history of the Jews in the Bohemian lands was hardly mentioned in Czechoslovakia under Communist rule. Since 1989, this has gradually begun to change. However, most of the schoolbooks that appeared after the political upheaval continued to ignore Jewish issues. Only in 1995 were Jewish topics given more space. The negative image of the State of Israel was also revised. The emphasis of history books from the late 1990s was on the representation of Jews as victims, in particular victims of the Nazis. However, some of the textbooks that have appeared in the last decade take a European perspective and mention the cultural and intellectual impulses that emanated from Bohemian Jews.

(Special Issue, pp. 289–299)

Full text file (PDF, 231 kB)