From Germania Slavica to Slavia Germanica?

Abstract

Since the 19th century, the history of East Central Europe was shaped by antagonistic perspectives. Whereas German historians claimed German cultural and political hegemony since the Middle Ages or even earlier, the Slavic nations referred to their autochthony and in a Herderian view to the civilization of these territories. Despite refined and interdisciplinary research methodologies referring to the German- Slavic territorial overlap, national perspectives prevailed even until the post-war era after 1945. Among those notions that changed the perception of the German-Slavic interactions in East Central Europe was the concept Germania Slavica with a focus on medieval history during the German expansion towards East Central Europe. This paper discusses, whether the research on the history of East Central Europe with a focus on mutual relations, on ethno-cultural substrate and migration, and on transfer and adaptation can be expanded towards the mid-20th century. The notion of Germania Slavica would thus be accompanied by the concept of Slavia Germanica. Arguments in such a direction refer to the fundamental change of the social and cultural situation as German vs. Slavic cultural substrate and Slavic vs. German migration. Despite the obviously different political framework and the time gap of several centuries, one might argue that perspectives on interactions and adaptation are comparable and can on the basis of their respective methodologies contribute to a scholarly interpretation of social and cultural processes in Polish and Czech regions.