Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
History
Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
About sixty years ago several Bohemian writers were bold enough to
write in their own language instead of German and from that time
the Bohemian spirit has grown until opposition to the overbearing
Germanism became almost a passion. Wherever the Germans were in a
majority only German public schools were provided, but wherever the
municipality had fewer Germans than Slavs German as well as Bohemian
schools were provided. To meet this discrimination Bohemians, both at
home and in America, have contributed to a remarkable degree for the
“Mother of Schools” (association) which supports Bohemian schools of
first caliber in the minority communities. There are no other Slavs
who compare with the Bohemians in the high regard for schools. As one
goes through the country he is struck by the palatial school building
even in poor peasant villages. It seems to bear a relation similar to
the prison and church in a Russian town. The inevitable result of this
universal spirit is the gradual elimination of the German language.
German had nearly vanished from the streets of Prague. One fared ill
in a restaurant if his German were good enough to sound genuine though
the waiter understood perfectly. Business men were beginning to take
pride in the fact that they could succeed without knowing any German,
and fathers who were reared with German as a mother tongue taught their
children Bohemian instead. The unifying force of this national feeling
has been going on with great rapidity in the face of the disrupting
force of eleven political parties, besides the sharp spiritual division
into Catholics and anti-Catholics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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