In recent years, Bohemian borderlands have gained increasing attention among American historians. In Changing Places, based on her doctoral dissertation at Stanford University, Caitlin Murdock adds another facet to this exciting new literature. Focusing on Bohemia's northwestern border with Saxony, she describes the formation and transformation of a border region during the turbulent period from 1870 to 1946. Murdock wants to present a transnational history of a political frontier that developed into an integrated borderland, focusing especially on the changing perspectives of the regional populace. Both governments and local residents shaped this process, underscoring the man-made nature of all political entities.
Murdock argues that the Saxon-Bohemian borderlands acquired their status as a modern cross-border region in the aftermath of the political transformation of 1871, which turned the historical frontier between the kingdoms of Bohemia and Saxony into the border between the multinational Habsburg monarchy and the designated German nation-state. The social and economic changes that followed increasingly connected the adjacent regions, which expressed itself in expanding labor migration, trade, travel, and family relations. The political centralization and mobilization of World War I disrupted this development, and after the war, the relatively benevolent border environment of two allied countries was replaced by the more reserved relationship between Weimar Germany and the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic. The political tensions surrounding the status of Czechoslovakia's German-speaking population, a quarter of the overall populace and the overwhelming majority in the Saxon-Bohemian borderlands, complicated cross-border relations.
Nonetheless, the borderlands continued to form a distinct and interrelated sphere, as local inhabitants insisted on their right to trade, work, and associate across political barriers. In periods of crisis, such as during the inflation of the early 1920s and the economic depression following the crash of 1929, calls for border restrictions gained broader support. The disproportionate impact of the economic downturn on the predominantly German sector of Bohemia aggravated local grievances. In the long run, however, pragmatic voices prevailed and assured the continuation of established cross-border relations.
The National Socialist rise to power marked an atmospheric change, as local party members openly displayed their dislike of Czechoslovakia and its officials. By 1937, borderlands had become fashionable in Germany, where they were stylized as the heart of the nation. This more radical German stance triggered a political backlash by Czechoslovak authorities, who imposed onerous restrictions on established cross-border interchange, and Czech activists assumed the task of safeguarding Czech interests in the German-speaking border regions. Finally, between 1938 and 1945, the borderlands were fundamentally transformed. Following the Munich agreement, the transformation was political, as the Saxon-Bohemian borderlands came under German sovereignty. Following World War II, the political frontier was restored, but the German population was expelled and replaced by Czechs from interior Bohemia, as well as by other populations considered sufficiently Slavic and reliable.
Caitlin Murdock presents a fascinating picture of human agency in an era of dramatic changes. She consistently reminds us that political conflict was only one facet of social life and that national activists for the most part only represented a small part of the populace. Many locals remained ambivalent about their political and cultural status and tried to adjust to changing societal environments. The author focuses on both German and Czech actors, although the somewhat greater focus on the former can also be explained by the predominantly German-speaking character of the region.
Next to its many strengths, the study also has some limitations. The focus shifts between the actual borderlands and larger Saxon-Bohemian or even German-Czech interrelationships. When it comes to establishing cross-border mobility, too, Murdoch faces difficulties in distinguishing among the Bohemians present in Saxony. Many of the Bohemian labor migrants employed for her arguments did not originate in the border region. Thus, they exemplify a larger framework of international labor migration, rather than a distinctly integrated border sphere.
More significant may be some theoretical lacunae. The book does not end with a substantial factual and theoretical conclusion but with a brief epilogue on postwar developments. In view of its designation as transnational history, it may also have profited from a clearer definition of nationhood. The author variably applies political and cultural interpretations, and the specific nations transcended remain open to interpretation. If one side of the emerging borderland after 1871 was formed by the imperial German nation, it does not emerge clearly which nation we find beyond the border. These limitations cannot detract from the study's great value for scholars of Central Europe. Changing Places adds an interesting and well-researched empirical study of northwestern Bohemia, which nicely supplements previous investigations of localities in the south of the province. It makes a significant contribution to the growing body of literature on Bohemia's borders and identities.
