The relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic. Culture of remembrance to prevent cultural conflicts: A cultural studies approach

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - Region: Eastern Europe, grade: 1,3, University of Regensburg (Institut für Politikwissenschaft), course: Grundkurs: Einführung in die Datenanalyse, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to answer the question: Why are there no significant cultural conflicts between Germany and the Czech Republic given their historical context? The relations of neighboring countries with each other are almost always more complicated compared to countries that do not share any borders. As such, the case at hand is of similar origin: the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic. As they have been co-existing in the same region for ages, the two relatively new democracies have had complications in their relations in the past. Nevertheless, their policies have been peaceful and cooperationfriendly in the era after the Cold War. Therefore, the re-establishment of the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic is short from reaching its thirty-year mark. Seeing that the latest era of stable relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic was only realized in the last three decades, it is clear that the older generations may not share the same openmindedness as they have other recollections of the past in comparison to the younger generations. The generation that has witnessed the horrors of the Second World War and its aftermath is sure to have darker recollections than those born in their country after it was unified. This has been an issue that the cultural studies have been taking into consideration in the past decades, which has ultimately resulted in the concept called the culture of remembrance. This newly developing field has multiple subsections to define and describe the place of remembrance and memory in each culture. Therefore, culture of remembrance constitutes a significant part of the approach that will be used throughout this paper.