Authors

Ondřej Kolář¹;  ¹ Slezské zemské muzeum (Silesian Museum), Czechia

Discussion

Multi-ethnic territory of Czech Silesia was inhabited by Czech, German, Polish, Jewish and Roma population. Following the fall of the Habsburg Empire in 1918, the region witnessed dramatic border disputes, as well as social and ethnic conflicts. During the whole interwar period, Czechoslovak administration had to deal with both German and Polish irredentism, as well as socialist radicalism. Similarly, the restoration of Czechoslovak independence after World War II was accompanied by serious security threats and territorial disputes.
The paper aims to describe and analyse the approarch od Czechoslovak administrative and security apparatus towards the specific territory of Silesia. The research focuses on differences in attitudes of the state authorities towards various ethnic and social groups. Another goal is to analyse the development of security conceptions, as well as personal, structural and ideological (dis)continuity of the security apparatus.