The Birth of Czech Nationalist Activism in Reichenberg (Liberec) and its Conflicts with the City Hall (with a focus on the conflict during the 1890 census)

Abstract

This study focuses on nationalist agitators and municipal politicians in the North Bohemian city of Reichenberg (now Liberec) during the period of nationalist political struggles before WWI. It explores — on the example of the record of the language of daily use in 1891 census and other conflicts between German and Czech activists — the ways in which the discourse of the political elites became nationalized — though this hardly reflects the intensity with which people were committed to national issues in their everyday lives. The intensification of the conflicts in Reichenberg is not regarded as a sign of the weakness of civil society, but rather of its growing strength. In the days when the Czech-speaking community in Reichenberg occupied an entirely inferior status, there was no friction between it and the majority German community. The friction came about when the Czech-speaking middle classes gained in strength and influence, and began to engage in nationalist agitation — which was confrontational in nature. The hostile response from the city authorities was essentially a symptom of a struggle for the symbolic occupation of public space. The response adopted by the Reichenberg City Hall (which was similar to other “German” authorities in ethnically mixed towns and cities in the Bohemian lands) was very hard, which to some degree explains (though it does not excuse) the highly confrontational approach taken by the independent Czechoslovak state towards its German citizens in the immediate post-war years.