• standard, three-years project supported by the Czech Science Foundation (No. 18-11418S)
• duration of the project: 2018–2020 (prolonged to 2021)
• guarantor: Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• project leader: Zdenko Maršálek, Ph.D.
• basic research team: Milan Sovilj, Ph.D., dr. Jiří Neminář, dr. Vladimír Pilát, CSc.
• focus: the marginalization of “inconvenient” aspects during the process of creation of common historical narrative
• model group: the soldiers forcibly mobilized to the German Wehrmacht, who later joined the Czechoslovak army-in-exile
• main principles: the mentioned soldiers comprised up to third part of all the manpower of the Czechoslovak army-in-exile at the end of the Second World War, nevertheless, their importance had been intentionally marginalized – the fact that they previously served with the German Army did not respond to the general narrative of the resistance how it was created during- and after the war. Project is focused on the ways, processes and principles of this marginalization.
• project aims for international comparison (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Poland)
• main outcomes: international conference, conference proceeding, manuscript for the collective monography

Project background: The image of the resistance

The years of the Second World War brought to most European countries the trauma of defeat and life under the harsh conditions of occupation. Especially for ideological and propagandistic reasons, the image of the “fighting nation” was created, which in its mass was not reconciled to the occupation and which instead fought for its liberation in the occupied homeland as well as abroad. This image was intended to raise the self-confidence of the society after the occupation, but also to create a generally accepted consensus around which the nation could reunite.

To encourage the oppressed nation and stimulate the process of finding its new identity, selected phenomena were specifically emphasized and overestimated, whether they were particular battle successes or a general feeling of national solidarity, belonging and overall determination. At the same time, however, phenomena which did not conform to the ideal image were suppressed and silenced. For example, marginal participation in armed resistance, political livelihood or adaptation of the majority of the population to the conditions of occupation in a simple desire to survive, even cases of minor or greater collaboration should not be remembered or mentioned as mass phenomena. Cooperation with the occupier, and even the mere passivity of a great part of the inhabitants, did not correspond to the image within the narrative, shaped and formed by the interactive participation of politicians, ideologists and society itself.

One such example is the service of citizens of the occupied countries in the German army. Although it happened mainly by force and due to coercion, the mere fact of subjecting the occupier’s wishes and entering the enemy forces undoubtedly created the impression of collaboration, and in any case did not correspond to the notion of the fundamentally resisting attitude of the occupied nations. That impression was not suspected even by the fact that many of the so-enrolled soldiers later deserted to the Allies and joined their own national units. To the contrary: as there were just these soldiers “from the other side of the front” who allowed a desired, long-awaited rapid increase of the manpower at the end of the war, the fact that a substantial part of the national armies-in-exile ultimately comprised not the determined “fighters of the first hour”, but the men who had previously worn enemy uniforms, could easily shake the crafted – and fragile in its artificiality – image of the resistance. This group of resistance soldiers can serve as a demonstration for exploring the processes of marginalization of “inconvenient” aspects during the formation of collective memory, as well as the associated circumstances, manifestations and practices. The issue, formerly tabooed in practically all European countries, has become a field of research in the last few years, offering thus an extraordinary opportunity for mutual comparisons and analyses.ým polem i v mezinárodním měřítku, což nabízí nebývalé možnosti komparace a analýz.

Abstract

The project Former German soldiers in the Czechoslovak Army in World War II as an example of marginalization in the process of creating of historical memory is a standard, three-years project, supported by the Czech Science Foundation. The project examines the phenomena of an intentional marginalization in the process of formation of collective memory and common narrative. The model for research is a group of members of the Czechoslovak army-in-exile during the Second World War, whose fate did not correspond to the long-established and generally shared image of the resistance, as it is until today traded in collective memory. The sample examined consists of the group of Czechoslovak citizens who were conscripted to serve in German armed forces and who, subsequently after their desertion or deflection, joined the Czechoslovak army-in-exile. The research team will study the circumstances and conditions of their screening, verifying and acceptance to the Czechoslovak Army, perception of them by commanders and combatants, statistical documentation of their numbers and analyses of their personal data. An important and mostly unrevealed phenomena are transformations of their perception by their social environment as well as by state and military authorities, especially in the post-war period. Equally significant is the question of their own self-perception and self-presentation. The findings become the basis for identifying and describing specific ways of marginalizing the participation of this large group during the formation of the image of the resistance. Cooperation with experts from abroad will be inspiring, and at the same time will allow comparison of the phenomenon as a whole and its individual aspects in an international context.

Objectives

1) Exploring the mandatory service of Czechoslovak citizens in the German Armed Forces and, subsequently, in the Czechoslovak Army.

 2) Analysing the portrayal of their service in the Wehrmacht and their marginalization in the “resistance story”.

 3) ) Incorporating the issue into an international context.