The Czechs are a proud people, as it has been said in previous presenters, and they have
clearly defined and formulated ideas of what is to be Czech. These characteristics usually
compare unfavorably with the traits they prescribe to other people’s, especially the
Slovaks and the Germans. An example of this is the common saying that “the little Czech
has golden hands which allow him to cope with everything they touch: he is talented
skilful and ingenious. The Slovak on the other hand is dismissed as a dim-witted Shepard.
Although the Czechs had this strong nationalistic characterization, official communist
ideology emphasized the socialist character of Czechoslovak society. Any characteristics
that were perceived as typical of Czechs were unimportant, what were important were the
characteristics of the new socialist man, which the Czech people were expected to
embrace. International sport became one of the only ways that pure Czech nationalism
could be expressed. Interesting note, the last major anti-soviet demonstration that broke
out after the brutal suppression of Prague Spring, occurred in Prague in April 1969 after
the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team beat the Soviet Union.
When the Czechs imagine their the Czech Nation, they imagine a democratic, welleducated, and a highly cultured nation. This image is a great source of pride for the Czech
people and held as the explanation for Prague Spring when “the manifestation of the
cultural strength and democratic traditions of the Czech nation, a movement to overcome
the totalitarian system by utilizing its own resources, a movement which occurred even
within the Communist Party.”
Very interestingly, although Czechs see their great nation in a highly positive fashion,
held with great pride in every Czech. But the way in which they see themselves, when
they, the people, look in the mirror, is distinctly negative, and contradictory. They see
themselves as envious, resentful, conformist, cunning and egoistic, and yet they belong to
this great democratic nation. They see themselves as petty-minded and intellectually
limited, yet the Czech nation is highly cultured and educated. But Holy puts forth a good
argument in this respect. This contrast, although it can bring up many issues within the
culture, it is this contrast that has allowed the Czech nation and its people to survive
frequent periods of oppression and foreign domination, and to continuously attempt to
better their culture. The National traditions are ideals that the Czech people strive to live
up to.
Czechs legitimize and substantiate their national image through specific emphasis and
reading of their history. National traditions form from this emphasized events. Ie Jan
Huus, The Battle of White Mountain.
Czechs and Slovaks (important to understand the Czech nationalism and the split of
the country after the fall of communism)
Although it has been debated throughout history if the Czechs and Slovaks were one
nation or two closely related but separate ones. Since the great Moravian Empire, the first
historically documented state in Central Europe, Czechs and Slovaks have lived in close
contact with one another.
Throughout history these two groups have always been lumped together as “the same
people” The decisive act which established a separate Slovak identity was the creation of
he Slovak literary language. This event was called the language schism and for Czech
nationalists, considered it a hindrance to the common struggle of the Czechs and Slovaks
for cultural and political autonomy from foreign rule. The rest of the world still officially
regarded “Slovaks as Czechs in spite of using their dialect as a literary language.”
But hope was not lost for the cause, and instead of the dream of a single nation speaking
one language, it was replaced with the reality of two languages for a single nation.
This dream was realized at the end of World War One when the Czechoslovak nation was
born. Although independent Czech and Slovak states were wanting to form during this
time, Czech and Slovak leaders were scared that, given the complete lack of knowledge
about the culture and history of central Europe by the western powers, the political
struggle could be complicated or doomed by raising the Slovakian issue.
But the new country was not only a Czech and Slovak state. Because the borders were
drawn to be defensible in case of another conflict, and not based on ethnic lines, there
were thousands of Germans, Poles, Hungarians, and Ukrainians within the border.
Czechoslovakia was truly a multi-cultural nation. The ideology of Czechoslovakism
became the official doctrine of the new republic to preserve the state for Czech and
Slovak peoples.
Although many outward appearances showed the equality of the Czech and Slovak
equality, the Czechs were clearly dominating the country, to the dismay of many Slovaks.
This inequality became even more apparent after World War Two and during communist
rule. Every aspect of Czechoslovak life was dominated and controlled by the Czech
intellectuals.
Czechs have specific images of what Slovaks are. They see Slovaks as traditionalists and
mountain men who would have faded into obscurity if it were not for the Czech
sympathy. Culture and nature form the contrast between the two cultures in the eyes of
the Czechs. The cultured Czechs, centred in Prague compared to the mountains of
Slovakia. Although Czechs see Slovaks as brothers, they are not equal. The Czechs see
themselves as the smarter older brother and the Slovaks as their mischievous younger
brother. Czechs believe that the Slovaks have no significant national culture.