GERMAN-BOHEMIANS
 
There
are three differences between the German-Bohemians and the other German
New-Tribes:
-
Bohemia already belonged to the Reich a long time
before the big German “Ostsiedlung = Settlement of the east” in the
Middle-Ages.
-
It later never belonged to Prussia, but to Austria.
-
They have a second, very “young“ name: Sudetendeutsche
The
term “Sudetendeutsche“ arose between the 10th and 20th
century and summed the German-Bohemians, German-Moravians
and Silesians of the Imperial Austria. Eventually it was
invented by Czech nationalists, as the Sudetic-Mountains at the border to the
Reich are not really identical with the German culture area in the region.
Like
the other New-tribes, the German-Bohemians were named for their land -
and the name Bohemia relates to a declined Celtic tribe named “Boiers“.
The name “Bavaria“ is linguistically probably als connected to this.
Apart from a former settlement by the Celtic Boiers, also a settlement by the
Germanic Marcomanni is proved. The settlement of Slavs happened (like
everywhere in Central Europe) after the invasion of the Asian Avars (556).
Already
in the time of the Frankish King/ Emperor Charles the Grand and his wars
against the Avars, Bohemia had come into some dependence of the (then)
Frankish Reich. The Christianisation also happened from Germany. In 895
the Slavonic tribal-chiefs swore allegiance to the German King in Regensburg.
After the invasions of the Magyars (Hungarians) there was a united dukedom in
Bohemia. Under a Slavonic duke with a great preference for the German
culture, Bohemia became a feoff of the Reich/ Kaiser in 929. The diocese
of Prague belonged to the archdiocese of Mainz.
The settlement by Germans happened
mostly in the borderland to the Bavarian, Upper-Saxon and Silesian culture
area. Forests got cleared and the won land settled. Farmers cultivated it.
Since Kaiser Heinrich IV. and
Friedrich I. (Barbarossa) there was a King of Bohemia inside the Reich (12th
century).
König Ottokar II founded the town
of Budweis in 1245, which will later be mentioned once again ...
1253-78
Bohemia reached it’s zenith of power. It now controlled big parts of today’s
Austria. Ottokar II could even hope to gain the Kaiser-crown. In 1278 he did
however loose against Rudolf von Habsburg on the battlefield.
1310-1417
Bohemia went to Kings from the Luxemburger line (Franks). Their Karl I
also became Kaiser, as Karl IV.
The Bohemian coat
of arms
In
1348 Karl IV. founded the University of Prague – the first German University of
all! (See at the very
top: the seal of the university)
Under
his rule, culture and economy were supported. Apart from that, Bohemia was
not hit by the plague. Karl IV. governed the Reich from Prague and in the
chancellery there, the base for the “New-High-German Standard Language“
arose.
In
1419 however a religious and Czech nationalist
movement lead to the 16 years long Hussite War.
After the end of this war, the rule over Bohemia stayed a cause for
conflicts - mostly this is however a matter of the always equal fights for
power by the nobility ...
In order to avoid a picture of a
vomiting Hecker at this point, we “ignore” this topic here ...
In 1618 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, a nephew
of the Kaiser, became king of the mostly protestant Bohemia. He forbid a “Protestantentag = protestants
conference“, that was planned in Prague. Afterwards two imperial governors
were pushed through a window into the moat of Prague’s “Hradschin“ palace. This
event is called “Prager Fenstersturz“. It was the beginning of a rebellion,
during which an anti-king was soon elected in Bohemia -
the young electoral-prince of the palatinate (Frankish), who was also
the leader of the protestant Union.
The Thirty Years’ War began and electoral-prince Friedrich
quickly lost, as he did not get the support of the entire Union -
the war however lasted only the longer ...
Of 3
million inhabitants of Bohemia (in 1618) only 800.000 were still alive in 1648!
Actually all protestant intellectuals, educated people and artists had
fled. - In the following time Bohemia more and more developed into a
province of Austria.
The so
called “Pragmatic Sanction“ of 1720 completed this development.
Now princesses could also come to power in Austria. Maria Theresia became
(among other things) Queen of Bohemia. Her very beloved husband Franz Stephan
von Lothringen (= of Lorraine; Frankish) was elected Kaiser by the German
electoral princes, as Franz I.
In the 19. century nationality had
gained a bigger importance. The German words “Volk = nation“ and “Volksherrschaft = Democracy“ already show the
backgrounds like a summary. - That’s a little too simple, but of course
one doesn’t need to stop telling at this point.
After the revolution of 1848 there
were special problems from the Bohemian perspective:
There was a German
“Nationalversammlung = National Assembly“ in Frankfurt and an Austrian
“Reichstag“. Both were supposed to work out constitutions. The will of most
Germans, to unify all German states, meant a threat for the dream of the
Slavs in Bohemia: an own Czech national state.
In the end of May a “Slavonic
congress“ began in Prague. On Juni 11th 1848 (Whitsun) the
imperial general Windischgrätz put an end to this congress by brutal
violence, including the use of artillery. Nevertheless it were many Czechs,
who marched (under the leadership of Windischgrätz) against the German
Vienna, which was controlled by republican forces. The Reichstag had been
moved to Kremsier in Marovia by the monarchy, where the politically
right-wing Czechs now supported the interests of the Kaiser (against the
Germans), as most German Representatives in the Austrian Reichstag were
democratic republicans, who wanted to reach the German unity.
The final failure of the National
Assembly in 1849 kept all these conflicts unsolved for a long time ...
It
took until an unsuccessful War of Austria in Italy (in 1859), until the Czech
nationalists worked against the Austrian state again. The Czech press
developed an angry agitation against the German culture in the following
time.
Excesses
against German students in Kuchelbad near Prague in June 1881 led to a
similar striving for division among the Germans. Since 1883 the Czechs
managed a Czechification of the administration also in the German
territories, as officials now had to be able to speak both languages, which
Czechs could more often. - Which Germans in Austria would have needed
the Czech language before?! ...
German
efforts to separate the language-areas politically failed. Many Germans
regarded their identity as threatened. On December 22nd 1886 the
German representatives left the “Landtag = regional parliament“ of Bohemia
for a long time. A further radicalization among the Czechs caused reforms to the
benefit of the Germans.
During
a land-exhibition in 1891 the Czech radicals demonstrated their
position by celebrating fraternization with French and Russian guests, as
enemies of the German people.
These
developments of the 19th century fit to the time after World War
I: The interests of France led to the foundation of an anti-German state,
which was supposed to be as big and strong as possible: Czechoslovakia.
That the Germans were the second biggest ethnic group in this
state, does of course not get expressed by this name. That most Germans lived
in German territories that were (geographically) connected to the Reich,
strengthened the will to leave this state. At this time the name Sudetendeutsche
became important, because the fantasy-state Czechoslovakia prohibited
the names German-Bohemians, German-Moravians
and German-Silesians.
Therefore almost all Germans supported the annex by the Reich in 1938,
despite the Nazi-regime was ruling there.
- All others had never given
them hope for „national Liberation“. A little later Czechoslovakia
disappeared from the maps again. The Nazis founded the
“Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren = Reich’s protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia“. In regard of the crimes of the nazis, there can’t be a doubt that
the “Munich Agreement“ had horrific human consequences, but calling it
“appeasement“ is nonsense! The entry of German territories to a German state
matches the right of the self-determination of nations. It was never an
expression of good will of those powers that had done the injustice of 1918
to the German-Bohemians.
Oskar Schindler from Moravia. He invested all his money to save
his Jewish workers.
After
1945 about 100.000 Germans got brutally murdered by Czechs. Countless were
abused and almost all German-Bohemians were deported. The Czech laws
legitimate these crimes still today. Only the more important is it to
maintain the German-Bohemian culture!
Built
German-American patriotism: A mosaic in the house of Adolphus Busch in
Germany. Despite the house stands in Hesse, the picture is shown here, to
connect it with the following paragraph …
Very
well-known about “Bohemian culture” is the Polka, a dance, which was danced
in Prague for the first time in 1835. The Polka is however probably of
Slavonic origin. The name is either explained with “Poland” or with the Czech
word “pulka“. The most well-known thing about the German-Bohemian
culture are probably the beers: Pilsen(er) and Budweis(er) are two popular
beers that are named for Bohemian county-seats.
The
American Budweiser was brewed by the two German-American friends Adolphus
Busch and Carl Conrad after a journey through Bohemia, in order to be able to
offer the Americans a “Bohemian Style Lager“. - Was this
successful? - Only if the name Budweiser remembers our
readers of the German-Bohemians in the future ...
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