Remembering the Divide: Public Commemorations and the Polish-Czechoslovak Conflict in Teschen Silesia, 1932–1938

• In Event: League of Notions?: Local Agency, State Power, and International Institutions in Interwar East European Borderlands

Abstract

Historiography often attributes the deterioration of Polish-Czechoslovak relations to the signing of the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact in January 1934. Focusing on the divided city of Teschen, this paper assesses the extent to which the public commemoration of events seemingly unrelated to the Polish-Czechoslovak conflict was strategically employed at the local level to fuel national mobilization and contribute to rising tensions in the context of Poland’s increasingly strained relation with the League of Nations. It explores key cases such as the remembrance of the 1932 aviation tragedy involving Polish pilots Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura, as well as the unveiling of the Cieszyn Nike, a monument honoring Polish Legionnaires. Drawing on local, regional, and national administrative records alongside contemporary newspapers, this study reveals how commemorative practices in the public, which have the potential to promote unity, were reinterpreted through an irredentist perspective. It argues that while these events largely unfolded peacefully despite escalating political tensions, they played a crucial role in shaping nationalist sentiment. However, it demonstrates that while public commemoration helped create conditions for the eventual expulsion of Czech loyalists following Poland’s annexation of Czechoslovak Teschen Silesia, they did not necessarily sever the ongoing cross-border cooperation between Cieszyn and Český Těšín, which existed between the two towns until 1938.

Author

• Zora Piskacova, Harvard U