The Czech Question
E-book, Czech
The Czech Question
One of the consequences of a potential Nazi German victory in the Second World War was to be the complete Germanisation of the Czech lands, which were planned as an integral part of the Third Reich. However, this first required a solution to the so-called 'Czech question', i.e., finding a way to deal with the Czech-speaking population of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Some Czechs were to be Germanised, while the rest were likely to be deported to the East. Racial criteria, in the spirit of Nazi ideology, were to play a key role in the selection process.
The main theme of this book is the theory and practice of Nazi Germanisation and racial policy towards the Czechs in the Protectorate. The author compares various concepts and plans for 'solving the Czech question', focusing on the effort to seize Czech land and prepare for German colonisation. However, the core of the text lies in the racist elements of the Nazi Germanisation efforts. The prerequisite for the planned Germanisation was to understand the racial structure of the Czech population. Research conducted at three institutes of the German Charles University in Prague was largely dedicated to this.
The author attaches the greatest importance to the so-called practical racial selection, which was carried out by the SS Main Race and Settlement Office and its Protectorate branch. This office was not only concerned with the broad examination of the Czech population, but also with routine administrative matters in areas such as nationality, mixed marriages, the admission of Czech pupils to German schools, etc.
The book offers a comprehensive and somewhat unconventional approach to the topic. The author is not satisfied with merely interpreting the surviving results of the racial investigations, but seeks to shed detailed light on the selection process itself, using specific cases of people who, for various reasons, underwent 'racial screening'. In doing so, he debunks a number of established myths that still surround the racist policies towards Czechs during the German occupation.
Nakladatelství Epocha s.r.o., Kaprova 12, 11000 Praha 1-Staré Město, Česká republika, 224 810 352
