The Czechification of Feldsberg/Valtice

• In Event: Habsburg Successor States as Nationalizing States: Between Ideology and Pragmatism

Abstract

The breakup of the Habsburg Monarchy resulted in new states, new borders, and new forms of instability in a region already on edge since 1914. For centuries, the town of Feldsberg/Valtice, located along the Lower Austrian-Moravian border, had belonged to the province of Lower Austria. However, according to the terms of the Treaty of St. Germain, signed on September 10, 1919, the area was joined to Czechoslovakia. This paper examines local elites and institutions as they transitioned from being in a predominantly German-speaking town to a Czech-speaking town during the interwar period. It analyzes the agency local actors had in the process and the choices they made.

Author

• Kathryn E. Densford, U of Texas at Rio Grande Valley