A new thread, starting with a post by Dobrov transferred from another thread in History & Geography.

At the moment I'm having problems moving Dobrov's post from History Textooks. Put very briefly, her main point is that the Czech lands - Bohemia and Moravia - were for centuries regarded in some vague way as a part of Germany, at least until that became 'politically incorrect' in Germany after WW2.

I agree. Older books on the history of education in Germany routinely give Prague as the oldest *German* university, as if this claim were entirely unproblematical. It might be more accurate to call it the oldest university in Central Europe. But there's a little difficulty with that notion 'Central Europe', too.

Some years ago, I was teaching a translation class (English into German). One day we were translating a text that contained the expression 'Central Europe' (in a straightfoward context) and I accepted 'Mitteleuropa' without further ado ... One of the participants, a very bright, ambitious and well informed young woman from the Law School, laughed and said in German: 'Isn't that a code-word ('Tarnwort') for 'Greater Germany'?' I was impressed by her knowledge but added that the expression could be used in a more matter-of-fact way.

I was interested to find that she only half agreed. Of course, she conceded that the term didn't always have the 'coded' expanionist meaning so popular c. 1890ff. However, she was very insistent that it meant (at the mimimum) 'the German sphere of influence' - pre-1866 often more in a cultural than overtly political sense, and I came round to her point of view. Many, seemingly neutral geographical terms are not at all value-free!

[ 04-21-2002, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: bloomsby ]

That's an interesting point of view that I'd never thought of. I more regularly find 'Central Europe' defined these days as 'Not Eastern Europe' and can extend, depending on you look at things, as far east as the Volga. In fact, I hardly ever see the term used in the English language press excepting publications coming out of, well, Central Europe. Otherwise, most every non-Central European sees the division purely East-West or former and non-former Soviet bloc.
This is a little problematic. For instance, being considered Eastern Europeans really gets on Czech nerves. They live in Central Europe, they aver, but the Slovaks...they're really Eastern. The Poles are Eastern too. However, the Poles and the Slovaks see it a little differently themselves.

It seems that the term 'Central Europe' covers a lot of ground nowadays - historical, geographical, political, and now, economic. Eastern Europe is poor, run by politicians with dubious pasts, and full of people dressed in polyester who travel on holiday in old buses with all their food in bags under the seats. Central Europeans have sharp-looking cars, stable governments, Nike runners and can go skiing in Austria (the natural heart of Central Europe). In a world where Europe is divided on East-West lines, 'Central Europe' is not only an historical legacy, it's a bid for legitimacy, for respect.

The tendency to divide Europe simply into 'Western' (traditional NATO) and 'Eastern' (former Soviet bloc) is utterly *infuriating*. How could anyone who gives the matter a moment's thought regard the Czech Republic or Hungary as part of 'Eastern' (!) Europe? However, the Cold War split was something new ... (Incidentally, the decline in the use of the expression 'Central Europe' during the Cold War in some ways seems to support my former student's view, for that was the time when German influence was particularly weak).

I've encountered the term 'Central Europe' here quite a bit. Yes, you're right, Dobrov. In some countries the expression 'Central Europe' is even a bid for prestige!

A little anecdote from my travels. May 2000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I was in an exceptionally well stocked arts and crafts shop in the Old City, and soon found myself chatting to the two proprietors, who were joined by two of their relatives. Animated discussions about Bulgaria, its politics and history. Suddenly one of the proprietors asked me what region of Europe I thought Bulgaria was in ... 'Eastern Europe?', he asked somewhat sadly. I immediately said, 'No, for me 'Eastern Europe is really the former Soviet Union!' - whereupon the atmosphere suddenly turned electric. I noticed everyone was looking at me intently ... Then someone asked very hesitantly, 'Central Europe?' The excitement rose even further.

Alas, I had to disappoint them. I pointed out that despite obvious German architectural influence Bulgaria hadn't bordered on Austria-Hungary ..., that it had been converted to Christianity from Byzantium and so on. In the end we settled for 'the Balkans', though I stressed that I didn't mean that in any negative sense.

[ 04-22-2002, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: bloomsby ]

Recently I came across 'Central Europe' used in precisely the sense of 'culturally within the German sphere'. Not long ago, UNESCO added Sighisoara (Schäßburg), Romania, to its list of places of outstanding art historical significance.
Among other things, the city is described as lying on the 'south-eastern edge of Central Europe'