Science, Politics, or Propaganda? From the History of the Union for Research of the History of Germans in Bohemia

The focus of this article is the history of the Union for the Study of the History of Germans in Bohemia. This voluntary association operated in the Czech Lands and Czechoslovakia from 1862 to 1938. The Union emerged in an era of increasing nationalisation of public life in this region and became one of the many associations that attracted a particular national community. Such associations are often called “national defence unions”, which implies a focus on preserving the national core identity and specific parts thereof. Nevertheless, the objectives of the Union were formulated with an emphasis on purely scientific activities that would shed light on various aspects of German–Bohemian history, as well as allow for systematic collection of sources. In this article, the author attempts to answer the question of whether the scientific and educational mission of the Union could remain the same in such a tense context for Bohemian Germans. This issue is considered from different angles: the tasks of the organization, the specific results of its activities, the scale and transformation of its structure, its affiliation with German political activists, and the main product of the Union’s activities — its publication activity — are analysed. The latter is addressed by quantitative indicators, which allows us to see the true scale of the controversy and topicality of the Union’s materials. The result of the research is the conclusion that despite the complex sociopolitical context and the relevance of the request for an “appropriate” Bohemian history, the Union retained its focus on local research and over time became more and more professional, contrary to the spirit of the time, losing touch with pressing political tasks.