Negotiating Identity and Collective Memory in Czech Silesia: Negotiating German Past and Czech Present (Memory, Heritage and Public History in Central and Eastern Europe - CEU Press)

How do people negotiate identity, memory, and history in Czech Silesia? How do they make sense of a turbulent past marked by mass displacement, shifting borders, and successive political regimes? And what do dominant narratives of Czech nationalism mean for communities living with the absence of others? This rich ethnography of the city of Opava and the neighbouring Hlučín region follows a diverse cast of local actors involved in shaping and remaking regional collective memory. From the bottom up, the book examines how memory is selectively preserved, silenced, or commodified in response to different mnemonic challenges, including contested Wehrmacht legacies, linguistic politics, and the branding of Silesian cuisine. Foregrounding both vernacular and institutional actors, the ethnography shows how identity in this Central European borderland is continually reconstructed and negotiated. Going beyond post-socialism as an explanatory frame, the book makes a strong case for a more ambitious and holistic approach to studying collective memory and the ways it shapes belonging in post-imperial, post-socialist Europe.