Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Czech Nationalist Revival
The end of Prague as a “German” city came gradually. As the
Industrial Revolution attracted Czech farmers and peasants into
the cities, the demographics of the Czech population centers
began to shift. Between 1800 and 1900, though it remained part
of the Habsburg Empire, Prague went from being an essentially
German town to a predominantly Czech one. As in the rest of
Europe, the 19th century was a time of great nationalism, when
the age of divine kings and ruling families came to a fitful end. The
Czech spirit was stirred by the completion of Prague's St. Vitus
Cathedral, the symphonies of Antonín Dvořák, and the operas of
Bedřich Smetana performed in the new National Theatre.
After the Habsburgs' Austro-Hungarian Empire suffered
defeat in World War I, their vast holdings broke apart and became
independent countries. Among these was a union of Bohemia,
Moravia, and Slovakia, the brainchild of a clever politician
named Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (see page 106). The new nation,
Czechoslovakia, was proclaimed in 1918, with Prague as its capital.
Troubled 20th Century
Independence lasted only 20 years. In the notorious Munich
Agreement of September 1938—much to the dismay of the
Czechs and Slovaks—Great Britain and France peacefully ceded
to Hitler the so-called “Sudetenland” (a fringe around the edge
of Bohemia, populated mainly by people of German descent; see
sidebar on page 219). It wasn't long before Hitler seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia...and the Holocaust began.
For centuries, Prague's cultural makeup had consisted of a rich
mix of Czech, German, and Jewish people—historically, they were
about evenly divided. But only 5 percent of the Jewish population
survived the Holocaust. After World War II ended, the three mil-
lion people of Germanic descent who lived in Czechoslovakia were
pushed into Germany. This forced resettlement—which led to the
deaths of untold numbers of Germans—was the idea, among oth-
ers, of Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš, who had been rul-
ing from exile in London throughout the war (see page 186). As a
result of both of these policies (the Holocaust and the expulsion of
Germans), today's Czech Republic is largely homogenous—about
95 percent Czechs.
Although Prague escaped the bombs of World War II, it went
directly from the Nazi frying pan into the communist fire. A local
uprising freed the city from the Nazis on May 8, 1945, but the
Soviets “liberated” them on May 9.
The early communist chapter (1948-1968) was a mixture of
misguided zeal, Stalinist repressions, and attempts to wed social-
ism with democracy. The “Prague Spring” period—initiated by a
