Dressing New Europe in a Folk Costume: The Place of Folk Culture in the Protectorate

• In Event: The Road to the Protectorate: Exploring Czechoslovakia’s Uncomfortable Pasts

Abstract

In the late 1930s, attitudes to folk culture and art in the Protectorate took a new turn, as artists, ethnographers, and politicians revived the search for true national art, nation and people. Original, authentic works of the allegedly homogeneous people in eastern Moravia could serve as proof of the cultural purity of local communities. Focusing on former Czechoslovakia, the paper uncovers the forgotten associations made by various individuals and groups in parallel to the interests of national socialists who tried to construct a racially determined interpretation of folk culture for New Europe.

Author

• Marta Filipova, Masaryk U (Czech Republic)