Czechs in the Service of the Third Reich: Zigzags of Historical Politics in the Second Czechoslovak Republic and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1938–1945

In the present article the author analyzes the process of transformation of the policy of historical memory in the Second Czechoslovak Republic, which emerged after the Munich capitulation of Czechoslovakia in September 1938, and in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, created by Hitler after the final occupation of the Czech Republic in March 1939. The main change in the policy of historical memory consisted in its complete adaptation to the interests of the Third Reich and was intended to maximally legitimize the seizure and occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany. As the result, the national revival, Hussite and Awakening traditions that dominated during the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) were completely discarded. Instead, the cult of the traditional patron of the Czech lands, Saint Prince Wenceslas of the Přemyslid dynasty, was revived and interpreted by protectorate propaganda as a wise and far-sighted politician who immediately made the only correct choice in favor of Germany, and that allowed the protectorate authorities to pursue a clearly pro-Nazi policy of collaborationism, which continued until the beginning of May 1945.