The Cost of National Liberations: Post-Imperial Transitions in East Central European Business Realms

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

As East Central Europe transitioned from a political landscape dominated by empires to one defined by nation-states, monetary concerns took center stage in everyday life. Individuals with diverging levels of wealth and influence grappled with the introduction of new national currencies, their frequently oscillating value, and the access to not just their savings, but also to their long-established markets. Some chose to reorient their businesses and financial interests to match the newly demarcated national space and use financial institutions as symbols of the nation-state. Others recast their former domestic business networks as a complex web of transnational trade and finance. The papers presented in this panel aim to synthesize new research approaches from diverse corners of the region’s imperial and post-imperial domains. While the contribution from Centrone addresses business involvement in healthcare provision, Piskačová delves into banking issues at the micro levels. Henig Miščič and Siegel offer insights into economic nationalism and financial dynamics within the nation-state context. Shedding light on how both individuals and organizations navigated the challenges posed by new borders, regulations, and currencies, this panel aims to add to our understanding of the emergence and solidification of the post-imperial economic sphere.

Sub Unit

• History: 1900-1945

Chair

• Gábor Egry, Inst of Political History HAS (Hungary)

Papers

• They Did Not Get a Penny': The Liquidation of the Teschen Savings Bank after Border-Drawing, 1920-1938 - Zora Piskacova, Harvard University

• Economic Nationalism as Official State Policy: The Challenges of Savings Banks in Slovenia after World War I - Nataša Henig Miščič, Institute of Contemporary History (Slovenia)

• Making Czechoslovaks: German Businessmen and Their Republic, 1918-1932 - Jesse Edward Siegel, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey

• Workers’ Health and Healthy Workers: Hospitals and Insurances in Czechoslovakia's Industry, 1918-1939 - Bianca Centrone, Princeton University

Discussant

• Mate Rigo, Ludwig-Maximilians-U Munich (Germany)