Jana Urbanovská on Activists Who "Disarm" the Czech-German Past

Jana Urbanovská presented at the Memory Studies Association conference in Prague with a paper titled "Overcoming the Mnemonic Security Dilemma: How Transnational Activists in Czechia and Germany Disarmed the Past."

For decades, the post-war forced displacement of German-speaking inhabitants from Czechoslovakia burdened Czech-German relations. Even after both governments officially agreed to draw a "thick line" under the past, some political leaders and interest groups on both sides of the border continued to exploit historical issues for their own political goals.

Jana Urbanovská, along with her co-author James Richter, conducted in-depth interviews with activists from Czech and German civil society to explore their interests, activities, and strategies. They demonstrated how these activists' transnational narratives helped weaken conflicting interpretations of the past and, instead, emphasized mutual dialogue.