Czech National Identity and the Elements Through Which is Constructed

Abstract

National identity is still one of the common components of identity of (post) modern people. The image of national identity is always country-specific, but individual national identities can share the same elements - for example they are associated with certain historical events related to national history, or are associated with national personalities. How the Czech national identity looks like may be by its owners more or less consciously formulated or implicit awareness. Some national and international research surveys are devoted to the topic of Czech national identity and bring partial findings concerning this phenomenon. However, a comprehensive overview of which specific elements constitute the Czech national identity and which thus contribute to its construction and reconstruction is missing in the literature. The aim of the study is therefore to find out and describe which elements constructing national identity are used in the concept of contemporary Czech national identity. The study will then use elements constructing the Czech national identity to create a coding key that, by categorizing the elements involved in the process of construction of the Czech national identity, will not only name and describe this identity, but also investigate it in more detail in future research surveys.

Full text

66
Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
Czech National Identity and the Elements Through
Which is Constructed1
Veronika Kolaříková / e-mail: kolarikova.veronika@mail.muni.cz
Department of Social pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech
Republic
Kolaříková, V. (2020). Czech National Identity and the Elements Through Which is
Constructed.
Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
, 12/2, 66–96.
https://doi.org/10.5817/cphpj-2020-023
National identity is still one of the common components of identity of (post) modern people.
The image of national identity is always country-specific, but individual national identities can
share the same elements - for example they are associated with certain historical events related
to national history, or are associated with national personalities. How the Czech national
identity looks like may be by its owners more or less consciously formulated or implicit
awareness. Some national and international research surveys are devoted to the topic of Czech
national identity and bring partial findings concerning this phenomenon. However,
a comprehensive overview of which specific elements constitute the Czech national identity and
which thus contribute to its construction and reconstruction is missing in the literature. The aim
of the study is therefore to find out and describe which elements constructing national identity
are used in the concept of contemporary Czech national identity. The study will then use
elements constructing the Czech national identity to create a coding key that, by categorizing
the elements involved in the process of construction of the Czech national identity, will not only
name and describe this identity, but also investigate it in more detail in future research surveys.
Key words:
National identity; Czech nation; modernists; ethnosymbolists; coding key;
historical memory; national stereotypes
Introduction
During the 19
th
century, national identity became a natural component of
identity of a modern man and still forms one of the basic components of the
human identity, although the emphasis on it has changed over the years. On one
hand, national identity and people’s relationship to it are influenced by processes
of globalization that can lead to a weakening of national identities and to the
strengthening of the transnational identities. On the other hand in our times of
postmodern risks and the times that are dealing with new social crises, we are
witnessing new nationalist waves and movements that are still using national
1 The study was supported by the MUNI /A/1186/2017 project.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
67
identity as a legitimizing element. We live at a time when national identity carries
different importance and meaning for different people, at a time when national
identity is once again becoming an important issue not only for social scientists,
but for the general public.
According to the Czech Population and Housing Census from the year 2011,
the Czech Republic is characterized by national homogeneity with a dominant
representation of Czech nationality
2
. According to the results of the international
survey ISSP
3
2013 – National Identity III
4
, Czech national identity is the seventh
most important group identity for Czechs, on the basis of which Czechs shape
their personal identity.
5
But what does the Czech identity actually mean? Czech
nationality implies a specific form of identity that is discursively anchored and
constantly constructed and reconstructed by a variety of elements, social practices,
structures and functions.
To understand Czech national identity and its ideal-typical image we should
define and describe the elements through which this identity is constructed, that is,
those elements with which its form is discursively linked. In the literature there are
partial descriptions of these elements. But comprehensive overview of elements by
which is Czech national identity form is lacking in the literature. The aim of the
study is therefore to identify and describe which elements constructing national
identity are applied in the concept of contemporary Czech national identity and to
anchor an ideally-typical image of Czech national identity. Therefore it will be
necessary first to describe which elements are involved in the construction of
national identities in general. In view of these issues, the structure of the study is as
follows: in the first section, the study defines the concept of nation and national
identity in terms of two key paradigms – modernism and ethnosymbolism. The
second section deals with elements having an important role in the construction of
the nation, respectively in forming a national identity. The third section is the key
passage of the study and deals with the elements through which the Czech national
identity is constructed. These elements are revealed in the study by studying and
analysing of literature and research surveys, categorized and described. Following
these categories of elements the coding key is created. The coding key can be
understood as a categorization scheme that has been flipped into the
methodological level, which can be further used in various research surveys.
2 Český statistický úřad. (2014). Národnostní struktura obyvatel. Český statistický úřad. p. 2.
[cit. 15. 12. 2018]. Available from: https://www.czso.cz/documents/10180/20551765/170223-
14.pdf/d0d27736-ef15-4f4f-bf26-e7cb3770e187?version=1.0
3
International Social Survey Program (ISSP).
4
Data analysis was performed by Vlachová, K., ed. (2015).
Národní identity a identifikace: Česká
republika – Visegrádská čtyřka – Evropská unie
. Praha: Slon.
5
Respondents mentioned employee, family and age identities as the most important group
identities. These were followed by an identity related to the part of the Czech Republic in
which a one lives, followed by a gender identity and social-status identity.

68
Veronika Kolaříková
1. Concept of National identity: modernism and ethnosymbolism
National identity is one of many identities of (post) modern man and as such,
it can be mutually combined with other identities (regional, ethnic, class, gender,
etc.). National identity tells us and our surroundings who we are. Whatever this
message is based on truth or fictional or an inaccurate stereotype, the image
associated with a certain national identity has a discursive power. According to
Smith
6
national identity defines the position of man in the world, as it determines
his or her belonging to a certain collective. It is a socially constructed group
identity that determines the individual’s belonging to a national group, which is
usually given by cultural and political unity (objectively given factors). Members
of one nation usually share a common national language, history, culture,
traditions and an idea of the main national characteristics. They realize civil
belonging to a given national state; they have a positive attitude to the country and
feel solidarity with members of the nation (subjective factors).
7
The concept of national identity may differ according to whom, when, and
from what paradigmatic perspective works with this concept. It cannot be said
that national identity has the same meaning at all times, in all societies and for all
people. With this concept the study works like with the ideal Weber’s type.
Weber
8
himself understood the concept of a nation as a hard-to-grasp concept
that denotes certain group of people who have a specific sense of solidarity with
each other. The study works with the concept of national identity as with
a modern phenomenon that became typical for Europeans in 19
th
century and
over time it has evolved and spread to other areas, and in some form has survived
to this day.
There are several perspectives through which we can look at national identity.
Currently in scientific discourse dominates the modernist conception of the
nation (e.g. Gellner). This concept understands nation as an unintended
consequence of modern (European) society, in which at the turn of the 18
th
and
19
th
century the on-going structural changes caused the rise of nationalism. To the
nationalism from which, according to Gellner
9
has gradually emerged the need for
a classification of people on the basis of belonging to the (same) nation. For
Gellner, nationalism was the source of national identities that had strengthened in
6
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství. pp. 37–38.
7
Carey, S. (2002). Undivided Loyalties. Is National Identity an Obstacle to European
Integration?
European Union Politics
, 3 (4), pp. 387-413.; Vlachová, K. – Ăeháková, B. (2004).
Národ, národní identita a národní hrdost v Evropě.
Sociologický časopis
, 40(4), pp. 489–508.;
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie
V (Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum
8
Hroch, M. (2006). Zmatky kolem nacionalismu.
AntropoWebzin
, 1(2), pp. 49–65. P. 51.
9
Gellner, A. (1993).
Národy a nacionalismus
. Praha: Hříbal.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
69
modern society. But it is important to realize that nationalism, as Gellner
10
himself
pointed out, is not a once-for-all constructed and lasting phenomenon. However,
nationalism has been changing and evolving, hand in hand with changes of the
social structures and functions that have given to nationalism chance to arise.
Another important paradigm is ethnosymbolism (e.g. Smith, Hroch) whose
proponents agree with modernists in a fact that nations are not immutable and
always existing types of human community and that the advent of modern society
has played a key role in the process of forming modern nations. Ethnosymbolists
point out, however, that many modern nations were built on earlier existing ethnic
ties and previous types of cultural and political communities, many elements of
which, despite being transformed in modernity, have persisted.
11
Smith therefore
emphasizes the exploration of symbols, myths, memories, of the values, rituals and
traditions that these communities were made up of and which they still supply
today specificity (a certain form of language, religion, customs, institutions, etc.)
and a generational feeling of continuity.
12
The study works with both paradigms and tries to link their main ideas. The
study draws from Gellner in the definition of the national phenomenon, which is
from his perspective understood as a product of the changing structures of
modernity. At the same time, study turns to the work of Hroch and Smith whose
anchoring in the ethnosymbolistic paradigm is for defining the key elements
involved in the construction of national identity important, as these authors focus
on exploration of the elements through which collective ethnic identities and
hence national identities are built and maintained.
2. Elements Concerning the Construction of Nation and National Identity
There are a number of elements through which national identity is
constructed. These elements, respectively their categories, as we can see in the text
below, often overlap and relate to each other. Still, it is useful to include them in
these categories for clarity and other analytical work.
The first category consists of (1) historical memory. An important role in
shaping national identity always had
national history
and
national myths
. They
gave the community a feeling of continuity, thus not only describing its existence,
but also legitimizing it. National myth defines Hroch
13
as a story that was more or
10
Gellner, E. (2003).
Nacionalismus
. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury.
11
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie V
(Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum.; Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou
dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních evropských národů.
Praha:
Sociologické nakladatelství.
12
Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London:
Routledge.
13
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, p. 190.

70
Veronika Kolaříková
less purposefully integrated into the co-ordinates on which there was founded the
idea of common faith that unites members of nation as well as the idea of a shared
national past. Construction of national myths and history in the past was based on
oral narratives and written pre-modern historical traditions, i. e. on stories that
were part of a living collective memory. It gradually associated with the invention
of writing and the gradual written record of important events. In modern society,
the history of the nation was one of the fundamental arguments used in the efforts
to national mobilization and civic education, so in the justification of the ethnic
group’s right to national existence.
14
National history and myths have become an
important part of the forming national identity and nations as well.
In a collectively shared historical memory that helps to understand a given
collective identity and its history as a continuous reality, according to Smith
15
are
contained mainly
myths about common origin
(these help perceive community in
which one lives as an extended family),
myths about liberation
and
myths about
“
chosenness
” (about the specificity and peculiarity of the nation and its mission),
notions of common destiny
(associated with victims which members of the nation
must bring for their good),
memories of heroic deeds
(often of victorious battles)
and
treatises of
“
real” major events
(so-called ethno-history), linked to the
“
memories“ of the golden age
of the national community (political or military glory,
period of plenty, time of significant architectural buildings, works of art, science or
religion, the period of national virtues and ideals, etc.) and with narrations about
the great deeds of the ancestors
and
remembrance of the great personalities
after
which the current members of the group have inherited the “common blood” and
who are part of
the roots
16
of the nation, and hence the idea of “who we are” and
what historical events we should be proud of.
14
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, p. 168.
15
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie
V (Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum.; cf. Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-
symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London: Routledge.; Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
16
Cultural roots (often mythical and rebellious) have become not only a tool for constructing
the common identity of community members, but also a means of celebrating its culture. The
roots were at the beginning of the community cult that established that the traditional values
of the community must be protected. The emphasis on people’s roots began to forming the
period of romanticism, that is, in a period in which modernity slowly began to expand with
its mobility and the old hierarchical order slowly broke-up. Compared to the earlier
Enlightenment vision of the universality of people, romanticism put emphasis on cultural
specificity, which he tied to the need for profound emotions (cf. Gellner, E. (2003).
Nacionalismus
. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury and Gellner, E. (2005).
Jazyk a samota: Wittgenstein, Malinowski a habsburské dilema.
Brno: Centrum pro studium
demokracie a kultury.).

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
71
The nation’s historical memory and its above-mentioned elements are reflected
in so-called sites of memory. Sites of memory can be understood as concrete but
also abstract places in which it was incarnated historical memory. These are a kind
of specially designed places for remembering. It doesn’t have to these are only
places of a material nature (monument, cemetery, museum, pilgrimage site,
extinct villages, etc.), but also the symbolic and functional elements presented by
the various media and forms in which are reflecting socially relevant topics on
various issues and past events that have become a symbol of the community. Such
as a stories of major battles or personalities, nation-specific artefacts such as
trabant or prefab house, a history book, a family chronicle, a funeral ceremony,
a pilgrimage, etc.
17
Sites of memory are with categories of historical memory
closely intertwine and deepen its theoretical background and at the same time
correspond with other elements that construct national identity and complement
them with other elements, such as
historical artefacts, writings and specific places
associated with historical events, memories, and their reminders
.
The notion of sites of memory was elaborated by Nora,
18
according to whom
the time of origin of nations was also time of perception of notions of memory and
history; the time of separation of these two phenomena. The time when people
began to turn to the past as something past and ended with what it is necessary to
know and worship; they began to turn to the future as to the something that have
to be prepared; and that all in the spirit of national rhetoric. Sites of memory have
become memory relics that must be preserved and reminded because they no
longer exist in the currently lived (spontaneous) memory of people. Therefore, it
must be maintained artificially (through festivals and anniversaries, memorials,
cemeteries, museums, archives, alliances) otherwise there would be a risk of their
disappearance. Sites of memory are used to symbolize ours past and its
constructed meaning for our present. Nora speaks about the materialization of
memory and about some for (post)modern society typical will to preserve this
memory.
In addition to historical memory, the collective (national) identity is further
shaped by (2) characteristic cultural features of groups. These are group-specific
values – sacrament values, heroism, honour, justice, democracy, etc.,
norms,
canonical texts, symbols and sacred objects, food, dressing, emblems,
etc. Important
17
Nora, P. (1998). Mezi pamětí a historií. In Francouzský ústav pro výzkum ve společenských
vědách,
Antologie francouzských společenských věd: politika paměti
(pp. 7–31). Praha:
CEFRES.; Šubrt, J. – Pfeiferová, Š. (2010). Kolektivní paměť jako předmět historicko-
sociologického bádání.
Historická sociologie
, 1(2010), pp. 9–29.; Havlůjová, H., Najbert, J.
et al. (2014).
Paměť a projektové vyučování v dějepise
. Praha: Ústav pro studium totalitních
režimů.
18
Nora, P. (1998). Mezi pamětí a historií. In Francouzský ústav pro výzkum ve společenských
vědách,
Antologie francouzských společenských věd: politika paměti
(pp. 7–31). Praha:
CEFRES.

72
Veronika Kolaříková
role have also
shared traditions, festive feasts, rituals
, and
other specific activities
(e.g. religious practices) that shape and strengthen the collective identity of the
group, sense of reciprocity and unity. They also participate in defining themselves
towards other groups. An important component is
the language
spoken by
members of groups through which they usually distinguish themselves from other
groups.
19
Another category of elements involved in the process of forming the national
identity consists of (3) national stereotypes through which members of a nation
create categorization of themselves and the outside world. These stereotypes are
based on autostereotypes (ideas about ourselves) and heterostereotypes (ideas of
others). Autostereotypes and heterostereotypes are involved in differentiation and
exclusion processes, which are according to Smith
20
involved in shaping the
boundaries between communities. People who are beyond a certain community
often give rise to suspicion or a sense of threat in the people of that community.
The form of these stereotypes is very closely related to the context of the time and
socio-political conditions of their origin and period of further functioning. It often
takes the form of more permanent a character that is transmitted in more or less
the same form across generations.
21
Previous processes are associated with (4) the process of naming populations,
when the name symbolically represents a cultural group and its identity and thus
participates not only in the categorization of people, but also to strengthen the
sense of belonging of the group members. By naming the national community as
“we” the group defines itself and at the same time differentiates itself from other
groups (“them”). Members of a foreign nation can be perceived not only as
different, but also as ancient enemies, or as our neighbours who are similar to us
(“other Slavs”).
22
An important element of the construction of nation and national identity,
which is closely linked to (5) the territory of a nation and its specific nature, such
as the type of landscape whose shape is closely woven into the historical myths and
memory of the community, is (6) a nation state on whose importance is
19
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie
V (Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum, pp. 153–195; Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London: Routledge.; Hroch, M.
(2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních evropských
národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
20
Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London:
Routledge.
21
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
22
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.; Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-
symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London: Routledge.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
73
emphasized especially by modernists. According to Gellner,
23
nationalism is tied
with the idea that the state is a universal human institution that delimits a national
group from others groups; institutions headed by members of the nation and space
where all members share the same national culture. Next to its territory, the nation
state is connected with two other important variables. First one is
a law system
that
is involved in the process of delineation national borders. Law system is part of
a high culture and according to Smith,
24
it participates in creating a sense of unity
and mutual solidarity among the members of the nation sharing this legal system.
The second area consists of
state symbols
, which according to Hroch
25
at the time
of nation building, helped spread national identity and inspired trust in the nation
among people. These symbols made it possible to represent the nation abroad and
strengthen citizen’s confidence in the state. The nation-state today plays a major
role in the process of maintaining a nation and its identity, because government
institutions by their very existence and performance contribute both to maintain
the organizational framework of the national community and to ensure the
conditions necessary for the functioning of national public culture.
26
For the process of forming national identities is important also (7) the
attachment of members of an ethnic or national group to a given territory –
„homeland“, „home“ – territory that has always been inhabited by a particular
community. The attachment of members of the nation to its territory it is usually
accompanied by an emotional bond and a feeling of love for the homeland, the so-
called patriotism
27
. Positive emotions associated with own nation are often
accompanied by neutral or negative emotions in relation to foreign nations.
28
23
Gellner, E. (2003).
Nacionalismus
. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury.
24
Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London:
Routledge.
25
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, p. 238.
26
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie
V (Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum. p. 190.
27
Gellner (2003) considers national feeling, i. e. love for the homeland, its culture and people,
as a social construct that arose in modernity along with the forming nationalism. By this
statement, Gellner does not want to question the authenticity and the sincerity of this feeling.
It merely points out that national sentiment is not historically or geographically universal
phenomenon. This is a phenomenon for which specific social conditions were necessary to
allow love for the nation, and thus the very awareness of its existence.
28
Kubišová, Z. (2013). Národní identita: trvání a změna. In J. Šubrt et al.,
Soudobá sociologie V
(Teorie sociální změny)
(pp. 145–205). Praha: Karolinum.; Smith, A. D. (2009).
Ethno-
symbolism and Nationalism: A cultural approach
. London: Routledge.; Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.; Gellner, E. (2003).
Nacionalismus
. Brno: Centrum pro
studium demokracie a kultury.

74
Veronika Kolaříková
3. Elements that Construct Czech National Identity
It is a difficult task to describe the concept of Czech national identity. The
image of Czech national identity is still to some extent constructed around the
“traditional” concept of the forming process of Czech nation that itself has been
subjected to reinterpretations and criticism many times (remember, for example,
the dispute over sense of Czech history, which took place between Masaryk, Pekař
and other thinkers at the turn of 19
th
and 20
th
centuries). But it is not possible to
assume that the concept of Czechism has not changed since then and was passing
as a constant. Yet many persistent elements of the traditional concept of Czech
national identity could be traced up to this day. It is possible to ask how are these
elements present in institutionalized practices involved in the process of
construction of Czech national identity and the extent to which they are
internalized by individual social actors. There should be taken into account
further development of Czech national identity, including all historical-socio-
cultural context of contemporary Czech society. The questions, we can ask, may be
related to the effort to find out which new (say postmodern) elements are in the
context of understanding and construction national identities now emerging and
what their position alongside traditional elements is. What is the role of
multicultural discourse and other phenomena in them?
Another difficulty of this effort is the fact that the author giving the
interpretation becomes the designer of the nation and its concept of national
identity himself/herself. As noted by the important anthropologist Holý,
29
history
is not a straightforward story of all past events, but rather a story of those who are
perceived by contemporaries as important and involved in today’s form of reality:
What we consider to be Czech history is a construction that allows us to understand
things in the sense that we are what we are because this or that happened in our past.
It is a construction that is an integral part of discourse that constantly constructs and
reconstructs Czech identity.
As the author of this study, I am aware of this fact, and
in describing the Czech national identity I attempt to clarify primarily those
elements which, according to a cross-section of the professional literature and
research investigations carried out, still play a dominant role in the awareness of
the Czechs and are still involved in the construction of the Czech national identity.
Categorization scheme of elements constructing Czech national identity
The study above focused on defining general elements that have an important
role in shaping national identity. We are now specifying the categorization scheme
related to national identity and, using an analytical reading of literature and
29
Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství. p. 17.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
75
research
30
, we will fill the resulting categories, thereby creating a categorisation
scheme for elements constructing Czech identity. The coding key thus generated
can be further verified and subsequently used in new research investigations, for
which it creates not only a theoretical background but, above all, an analytical
framework. In doing so, the coding key works with Czech national identity as an
ideal type and this itself becomes a sort of ideally-typical model, representing in
contemporary discourse dominating concept of Czech national identity. In
practice, this means that the study does not assume that such a conceived national
identity is universally valid for all Czechs, nor that its described elements occur in
all people, at all times and in strictly established form. The presented model of
Czech national identity may vary and may also contain other elements in reality
and therefore some categories also remain open to possible further additions.
The coding key works with five main categories that are further developed into
sub-categories. The first code key category
Czechs and their roots
correspond to
the original general category Historic memory (sites of memory). This general
category was broken down into two sub-categories at the stage of concretisation,
and therefore the category
Czechs and their shared memories of major historical
events and personalities
is also included. In the category Czechs and their roots,
due to the thematic grouping, the original general category Naming of population
is also included in the form of the subcategory Czechs (population name). General
categories Characteristic cultural features and National stereotypes have been
merged into the third category with the name
Czechs and their characteristic
cultural features
. The fourth category of coding key consists of the category
Czechs
and national territories, Nation state
. This category arose from the merging of two
general categories (Territory of nation and the National state) that cover each
other under the conditions of the Czech Republic. There is also the issue of
important (symbolic) sites in the Czech Republic and we can monitor the blending
30
This study is the type of review study that processes research data presented in research
reports and expert literature. It works with the results of the Centre for Public Opinion
Research of the Sociological Institute of the Czech Republic, with research findings
presented by the Czech Statistical Office or the Sociological Institute of the AV of the Czech
Republic. The research findings presented across the years also bring the book Historical
consciousness of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic through the perspective of
sociological research (Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české
republiky perspektivou sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum.). International
Eurobarometer research projects, the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), whose
results are described in book Vlachová, K., ed. (2015).
Národní identity a identifikace: Česká
republika – Visegrádská čtyřka – Evropská unie
. Praha: Slon.; and the European Values Study
(EVS), whose results are presented by Rabušic, L. – Chromková Manea, B. (2018).
Hodnoty
a postoje v České republice 1991–2017: Pramenná publikace European Values Study
. Brno:
Masarykova univerzita.; are also an important source of data. Alongside research
investigations, the study works with the professional literature of the authors of Thunder,
Rak, Holý, Klepetko, Kohák, Koukolík and others.

76
Veronika Kolaříková
of the category with the topic of sites of memory. To some extent, the last category
is tied to this topic. The fifth category
Other elements and memory sites related to
Czech national identity
contain elements that were not possible or desirable to be
placed in previous categories because of their specificity. Here we can find
subcategories such as Czechs and sport as an important element of national
identity, Czechs and religion, and Czechs and other artefacts of a symbolic nature
relating to Czech national identity. This category remains open to further potential
additions.
3.1. Czechs and their roots
•
Czechs (population name)
The naming of the population is instrumental in defining the identity of the
community and in establishing the boundaries between it and a population named
differently. The name of the national group covers the group and helps people
think of it as about a certain category. The origin of the term Czech is interpreted
in several ways. Czech etymological Dictionary
31
lists as the most likely option an
interpretation derived from the basis of a head-to-head reference to the meaning
of family, human. The second possible option is to derive from the concepts of
chic, garlic, but also “beat”, then Bohemia would mean “warrior”.
•
Ethnicity and myth of common origin – Slavs
Since the time of the Czech National Revival, most Czechs have shared the idea
of common Slavic roots as well as the similarity of the cultures of Slavic nations,
among which Czechs rank themselves.
32
The Czechs share not only similar
language and traditions with other Slavic nations. According to respondents they
share also similar mentality, appearance and historical experience. Slovak, Polish
and partly Russian cultures are seen as the Czech culture closest to it. According
to the primordialist understanding of the nation prevailing in Europe of the 19
th
century, as well as the Czech historiographical tradition, Czech history began with
the arrival of Slavic (Czech) tribes in Bohemia. From the falsified manuscripts
Královédvorský and Zelenohorský, national ideology took over the reference to
the grandfather Čech (“Czech”), prince Krok, Přemysl Oráč of the Oracle and
other figures.
33
The Slavic nation was seen as the great and powerful nation of
Europe, whose primetime and glory were brought to the attention of Dobrovský,
Jungmann and other Czech patriots.
But later, Czech history only became regarded as national from the time of the
creation of the Principality of Bohemia in the 10
th
century. The Greater Moravian
31
Rejzek, J. (2012).
Český etymologický slovník
. Praha: Leda. p. 111.
32
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 194–198.
33
Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
77
Empire is considered “the first historically documented state in Central Europe”
34
and as such Great Moravia (and with it its princes or Byzantine scholars Cyril and
Methodius) is remembered as an important part of Czech national existence. Since
its time, Czech history has been seen as a constant development of a political unit,
first a principality and, since the early 13
th
century, a kingdom that has never faded
in the eyes of national revivalists, though its sovereignty was weakened after 1620.
The concept was one of the reasons why historical arguments were formulated in
terms of “historical rights” became the common denominator of Czech political
requirements in the late 19
th
century.
35
Apart from the idea of who the Czechs are and what all Slavs have in common,
the definition towards other nations is also a part of national identity. In the
context of Czech identity, it is primarily about definition towards the Germans.
According to Hroch and Malečková
36
before 1860, Czech historians did not
explore foreign nations. They paid attention only to the role and influence of the
Germans. At the same time, from Palacký’s work, the national revivalists chose
mainly moments describing Czech-German rivalry and expansion, while frequent
instances of peaceful coexistence and cultural transmission were marginalised.
37
Czechs embodied the principle of freedom and democracy in this relationship,
while Germans perceived as a symbol of the “hereditary enemy” represented the
principle of authority and oppression. Although the concept did not find
unreserved approval among later generations of historians, it survived as
a stereotype in Czech political culture until the 20
th
century and remains, to some
extent, to this day.
•
Czech language
Since the Middle Ages, both Bohemia and Moravia have been inhabited by
most Czech-speaking residents and a minority who speak German.
38
The written
Czech language was established during the 14
th
century and remained the official
language of the administration until the 17
th
century. But after 1627, German
became a dominating official language due to the new constitution. By the end of
the 18
th
century, “our countries were already part of a large German cultural
region. Polis of the Czech countries – that is, a civic component of their
population, which at the time meant nobility, a higher clergy, educators and more
34
Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství. p. 97.
35
Hroch, M. – Malečková, J. (1999). The construction of Czech national history.
Historein
,
1(1999), pp. 103–112.
36
Ibid.
37
Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.
38
Hroch, M. (2004). From ethnic group toward the modern nation: the Czech case.
Nations
and Nationalism
, 10(1/2), pp. 95–107.

78
Veronika Kolaříková
affluent townsfolk – felt quite of course, unproblematic ally German.”
39
It is
assumed there has been a degree of ethnic identity among residents that, with
some exceptions, did not include xenophobia or spontaneous patriotic
enthusiasm. A social structure based on social status was crucial. According to
Gellner,
40
traditional society was strictly hierarchically organised. People
demonstrated their status through a different status culture, not ethnicity. Cultural
diversity has been functional in traditional society and utterly unquestioned by
anything. The difference in language became visible only in a modernizing society
in which migrant peasants were exposed to different experiences in the cities with
regard to the language they spoke. The German peasant joined the company with
an official language similar to the local dialect. A Czech peasant joined society
with an official language that he did not understand, and that made social
upheaval more difficult for him. Nor was the accessibility of education, after the
Teresian reforms, equally available to everyone. While primary schools remained
under church control and taught local languages, most colleges were secularized
and Latin was replaced by German as a language of instruction.
The inadequate status of Czech has become a symbol of the obstacle to the
vision of a society of equal citizens that has formed into a modernizing
Enlightenment society. New intellectuals felt a sense of injustice that led to a desire
to fight for linguistic equality. But it was not easy to elevate the Czech language to
the official language. Czech was the language of villagers at the end of the 18
th
century, not the language of science, art, bureaucracy or nobility that the Czech
nation lacked. The Czech revivals thus came from the people’s backgrounds.
Rather than warlords or politicians, it involved new young scholars (such as
philosophers and artists) who, in the process of finding their place in society and
their identities, began to turn precisely to the identity of the national, which was
represented in the Czech language.
41
This led to a linguistic and ethnic-cultural
concept of a nation prevailing in Bohemia, unlike in the states of Western Europe,
in which the identity of the nation with the state was not self-evident.
42
The nation
was seen as an entity mirrored in a common language, history, traditions and
cultural belonging. First and foremost, the revivalist sought to strengthen the sense
of Czech belonging and rebuild statehood within the federated Habsburg
39
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. P. 19.
40
Gellner, E. (2003).
Nacionalismus
. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury.
41
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia.; Hroch, M. (2004). From ethnic group toward the modern nation: the Czech
case.
Nations and Nationalism
, 10(1/2), pp. 95–107.
42
Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.; Kohák,
E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha:
Filozofia.; Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita
a postkomunistická transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
79
monarchy, and only then could they think about building an independent Czech
state. In doing so, he was subsequently supposed to defend Czech national
interests, that is to say, protect Czech language and culture.
Czech remains an essential symbol of Czech to this day. In ISSP 2013
international research
43
, respondents identified the ability to speak Czech as the
most important symbol of Czech. Even in 2017, 91 % of Czech respondents of
European Values Study
44
agreed that real Czech speaks Czech language. Yet since
the Czech National Movement, a gradual change in the concept of Czech national
identity can be seen. Czech identity is now more closely associated with the
territory of the Czech Republic than before. According to Vlachová and
Ăeháková,
45
Czechs commonly identify with their nation-state, which forms the
most dominant part of their territorial identity. Also findings of Šubrt and
Vinopal
46
emphasise that contemporary Czechs „perceive themselves, just as other
European nations, as both a state and a cultural nation. The real Czech man and
Czech woman is the one who can speak Czech, feels to be Czech, has Czech
citizenship, lives on Czech territory most of his/her life and was born on the Czech
territory. Czech national identity is linked in particular to language, a sense of
belonging to the Czechs, to citizenship and to life on Czech territory.” The
incorporation of the state dimension into the Czech identity may already be linked
to several years of experience of the existence of its own nation-state, which is
already self-evident to most of the young Czechs.
3.2. Czechs and their shared memories of major historical events and
personalities
•
Czechs and their memories of the Golden Age
What events the Czechs perceive as the most important period in Czech
history greatly affects the shape of their concept of national identity.
Interpretations of historical events and associated persons can transform over the
years, in the context of the optics of the present as well as of who interprets these
historical events and with what objectives they do so. Most typically, we follow this
transformation in ways of viewing the Hussite Wars and the character of Jan Žižka,
whose image oscillates between a national hero and a bloodthirsty robber.
43
Vlachová, K., ed. (2015).
Národní identity a identifikace: Česká republika – Visegrádská čtyřka
–
Evropská unie
. Praha: Slon. P. 137.
44
Rabušic, L. – Chromková Manea, B. (2018).
Hodnoty a postoje v České republice 1991–2017:
Pramenná publikace European Values Study
. Brno: Masarykova univerzita. p. 238.
45
Vlachová, K. – Ăeháková, B. (2004). Národ, národní identita a národní hrdost v Evropě.
Sociologický časopis
, 40(4), pp. 489–508.
46
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel České republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. p. 176.

80
Veronika Kolaříková
An overview of historical events that the Czechs consider significant is offered
by Šubrt and Vinopal,
47
through which the research presented dates back to 1946.
The authors tried to infer the dominants of Czech national memory from the
research submitted, and summed up that by 1989, there were themes of Hussitism,
the Czechoslovak Republic, and Charles IV’s reign in people’s imaginations as of
the brightest periods of Czech history. These themes, according to the authors,
point to the fact that “the public tend to judge history through the prism of
a particular period context and picks up from it primarily phenomena or events
that symbolize some current ideal or values to which the public is fixated at that
time.”
48
The 2010 research investigation produced similar results.
49
90 % of
respondents described the time of Charles IV’s reign as the economic success,
which is usually referred to as the “father of the nation.” His era is seen as a time
of flowering for Czech countries and their international importance. During the
National Revival, it was highlighted as a time of education, advanced culture, and
period of the power status. The paradox is that Charles IV’s personality as
a representative of the golden age of a given nation was worshipped not only by the
Czechs, but during the Middle Ages and the early New Ages also by the French and
the Germans.
50
The period of Charles IV’s reign was followed by the period of the Great
Moravian Empire; the period of the Kings of Přemysl family; the periods of Maria
Theresa and Joseph II’s reign; and the period of the First Republic.
51
Times of the
First Czechoslovak Republic, according to Kohák,
52
still gives the Czechs the idea
of a golden age. Which is confirmed by opinion polls from 2018, when 66 % of
Czechs view the period positively, and 68 % of respondents thinking that the
formation of the first Czechoslovakia contributed to the survival of the Czech
nation.
53
The ideal of the First Republic is linked to Masaryk’s democratic and
47
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum.
48
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. p. 107.
49
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 107-117.
50
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
51
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 107–117.
52
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. P. 197.
53
Tisková zpráva Občané o osobnostech, obdobích a událostech česko-slovenské historie od
vzniku ČSR po současnost – březen 2018.
(2018). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro
výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 28. 6. 2019]. Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/c
om_form2content/documents/c2/a4607/f9/pd180509.pdf

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
81
progressive conception of the history of the Czechoslovak nation. The celebrations
of the First Republic that held in the Czech Republic in 2018 reflects the
idealization and celebration of that time. But in fact, the First Republic was not the
ideal democratic state that many would claim to be. Consider, for example, the
1927 law on “wandering gypsies and persons living the Gypsy way,”
54
which, as
a democratic one, we certainly cannot talk about as it was involved in
discriminating against both nomadic and non-nomadic Roma and people “living
in gypsy way.” People classified into this category were identified as delinquents
who seemed to need to be normalized, which ultimately meant separating them
from society, assigning them special legitimacy cards, prohibiting them from
entering certain places, and, over time, with other expanding legislation during the
Protectorate send them into labour camps, etc.
The Czechoslovak Republic’s creation period is also more complex because the
Czechoslovakia with its internal cultural diversity did not respond to the idea of
folk nationalism about a one-nation state. Rather than being a independent nation,
it was an artificially created multinational and multilingual state formation, that
was resembled to a miniature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; nation where
national ideology disregarded the needs of Slovaks or other minorities, and the
German population perceived in the prism of the old Austrian oppressors.
55
The Hussite period was in a given research identified as “the golden age” by
only 36 % of respondents and 2 % of respondents perceived the time as an era of
decline.
56
This fact shows how varied the concept of the period has been in the
past. According to Hroch and Malečková
57
as well as according to Kohák,
58
it was
Palacký who, with the help of Jirásek and Aleš, proclaimed Hussite Revolution as
a period of golden ages. The Czech National Revival highlighted the Hussite
Revolution as a time of national awareness and rally of the population,
symbolizing the struggles against an external enemy for freedom.
59
In fact, the
reason for the Hussite revolution was not a national revival, but a struggle for faith
in salvation that the church could not convey to the poor faithful believers. The
54
More about this law in Fafejta, M. (2007). Fafejta „Cikáni“ – rasa, nebo způsob života.
Sociální studia
, 4 (2007), pp. 93–111.
55
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. p. 91.; Koukolík, F. (2015).
Češi: Proč jsme kdo jsme – a jak dál
. Praha: Galén.
p. 17.; Baar, V. (2002).
Národy na prahu 21. století. Emancipace nebo nacionalismus?
Ostrava:
Tilia.
56
Šubrt, J. –Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 107-117.
57
Hroch, M. – Malečková, J. (1999). The construction of Czech national history.
Historein
,
1(1999), pp. 103–112.
58
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia.
59
Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.

82
Veronika Kolaříková
expansion of the Czech language was an accompanying phenomenon of these
events rather than their deliberate goal. Later, Communist ideology also
highlighted the Hussite Revolution. By the end of the 20
th
century, the Hussitism
had been rowed back, and the role of the Slavic priests Cyril and Methodius and
St. Vaclav got to the forefront of the interest.
There is a need to add the Velvet Revolution of November 1989 into the so -
called “List of Events”. This was positively assessed by 72 % of respondents from
the Sociological Institute of Sciences of the Czech Academy of Sciences opinion
survey in 2018, which looked at how people in both the Czech and Slovak
Republics rate the various historical events of these countries from the beginning
of the 20
th
century to the present.
60
•
Czechs and memories of the days of decline
In 2010, the perception of decline times among Czech respondents was similar
to previous years. As the period of decline, 86 % of respondents identified the
period of protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. This period is linked with
a negative perception of the time of the Munich Agreement.
61
Even in 2018,
a majority of respondents (66 %) agreed on the concept of the Munich Agreement
as a result of the failure of our Western allies.
62
According to Kohák
63
the Munich
Agreement forms a myth that the Czechs have not coped with yet, and which
forms “perhaps the most desperate, devastating and demoralising moment in our
history since the White Mountain.” The events involved in capitulating to
Germany are seen as something Czechs should be ashamed of. Events persist in
shared memory as a betrayal of allies that, along with the surrender of President
Beneš, made it impossible for the determined citizens of Czechoslovakia to resist
Hitler’s expansion. Šubrt and Vinopal
64
mention the interesting fact that “the
assessment of the period as a decline does not mean that it could not have
provided a significant positive impetus in the construction of historical
60
Tisková zpráva Osudové osmičky v historickém vědomí české a slovenské veřejnosti: události,
období, osobnosti.
(2018). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro výzkum veřejného
mínění. [cit. 28. 6. 2019]. Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/
documents/c2/a4645/f9/pd180612.pdf
61
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 100–109.
62
Tisková zpráva Občané o osobnostech, obdobích a událostech česko-slovenské historie od
vzniku ČSR po současnost – březen 2018.
(2018). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro
výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 28. 6. 2019]. Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/c
om_form2content/documents/c2/a4607/f9/pd180509.pdf
63
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. p. 206.
64
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. p. 136.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
83
consciousness or national identity.” It was the period of occupation that the
respondents were described as the period in which the Czechs behaved most
bravely.
There is also a prism of defeat in the Battle of the White Mountain, which
ended in 1620 the era of the Hussite Revolution. According to Kohák
65
defeat
brought an end to religious pluralism as well as disintegration of for that time
existing sense of belonging of Czech rural people. The power monopoly of both
the emperor and the Catholic Church has intensified. The folk nationalists at the
time of the First Republic’s formation, perceived these events as a period when the
Czech nation narrowly escaped its own doom and as a period followed by a time
of “darkness” and decline, i.e. time of humiliation of the Czech nation, its
recatholization and germanization, a time of foreign domination. The national
revivalists, meanwhile, overlooked the fact that the Czech inhabitants of the
monarchy in the 18th century were all Catholics with no doubt about their loyalty
to the emperor. Anti-Habsburg sentiments did not begin to grow until the 19th
century, when the stereotype of the Habsburgs as enemies of the Czechs and their
national interests also invaded.
66
Scientists are also looking at a period of normalisation (prism of
communism). The establishment of the Communist regime in February 1948 is
viewed negatively by around a third of today’s Czechs, who also call the
occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 a negative
event in Czech history.
67
Šubrt and Vinopal
68
pointed to one interesting fact – in
2009, the research participants of “Aktér” research did not assess the state of
Czech society before and after November fundamentally differently, although the
current regime was generally rated better than the previous one (the one 79 % of
respondents said was undesirable). As a justification, authors offered the fact that
many of the reforms and targets taken after the November events are not seen as
successful by the Czech public – according to many Czechs, there has been no
expected settlement with Western countries in terms of economic or living
standards of the population. People in 2009 also felt anxious with under fulfilled
65
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. pp. 68–69.
66
Kohák, E. (2009).
Domov a dálava: Kulturní totožnost a obecné lidství v českém myšlení.
Praha: Filozofia. p. 184.; Hroch, M. – Malečková, J. (1999). The construction of Czech
national history.
Historein
, 1(1999), pp. 103–112.; Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české
historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.
67
Tisková zpráva Občané o osobnostech, obdobích a událostech česko-slovenské historie od
vzniku ČSR po současnost – březen 2018.
(2018). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro
výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 28. 6. 2019]. Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/c
om_form2content/documents/c2/a4607/f9/pd180509.pdf
68
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 142–143.

84
Veronika Kolaříková
values regarding social security, a sense of security, interpersonal relationships
and old-age security.
•
Important personalities of Czech history
Among the important personalities of Czech history, according to Hroch and
Malečková,
69
are those who have earned the spread of Czech culture, the defence
of national interests, the political consolidation of the Czech state or those who
have contributed to Czech glory abroad. Šubrt and Vinopal
70
bring an overview of
the transformation of the ranking of the best rated persons in Czech history and
show that since 1946 are repeating figures such as Charles IV, Hus, Komenský,
Palacký, St. Vaclav, Masaryk and, in modern history president Havel. Masaryk, as
a positively regarded political figure in Czech history, also prevailed as part of the
2018 assessment of respondents in public opinion research, where 84 % of Czechs
rated him positively.
71
In the same research, Czechs also positively rated the
character of Palach (67 %) and Havel (66 %). Also artists (Mácha, Mucha,
Destinová, Dvořák, Smetana, Kundera, Kupka, Forman, etc.), inventors
(Wichterle) and athletes (Jágr), often appear in the consciousness of Czechs.
72
The
interesting thing is that among the notable Czechs, people also rank fictional
characters such as Švejk, or Cimrman. The character of Maria Theresa and Joseph
II is also important characters. Although these are not Czech figures, because their
origin is Habsburg, these personalities are perceived by Czechs as important
figures for the Czech nation. The reason for this, according to Hroch,
73
are the
reforms, which were instrumental in transforming the shape of society at the time
and its life, and which (even if unintentionally) contributed to shaping a new
national identity.
3.3.
Czechs and their distinctive cultural features
•
Czechs and their autostereotypes – i.e. alleged national characteristics
The concept of a nation is linked to collective self-conception, to the notion of
a form of national character, i.e. the notion of defined personality characteristics
69
Hroch, M. – Malečková, J. (1999). The construction of Czech national history.
Historein
,
1(1999), pp. 103–112.
70
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum. pp. 115–119.
71
Tisková zpráva Občané o osobnostech, obdobích a událostech česko-slovenské historie od
vzniku ČSR po současnost – březen 2018.
(2018). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro
výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 28. 6. 2019]. Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/c
om_form2content/documents/c2/a4607/f9/pd180509.pdf
72
Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity, aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní
památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79.
73
Hroch, M. (2004). From ethnic group toward the modern nation: the Czech case.
Nations
and Nationalism
, 10(1/2), pp. 95–107.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
85
common to members of a culture and which are further linked to stereotypes
associated with the notion of the social, physical and mental characteristics of the
nation members. National character is a social construct that is constructed by
social actors and subsequently accepted by them as an objective model of reality.
In the process of construction of a national character, there are more involved
social prejudices, historical experiences and historical myths and stereotypes.
74
The Czechs describe as positive Czech qualities the sense of humour, skill and
diligence (so-called golden Czech hands and traditional crafts associated with
them), friendliness, musicality, the democracy of a nation, when democratic
tradition is legitimized by claims referring to the notion that Czechoslovakia was
the only democratic country in the interwar period Central Europe. They also
mention an advanced high culture reflected in works of art, in the revivalist efforts
even during the reign of Charles IV, intelligence (the so-called common sense) and
with it associated behaving as a well-known Czech literary character named
Švejk.
75
Czechs perceive Švejk as an intelligent person who has his stupidity only
pretended.
76
On the contrary, foolishness is a characteristic that has always been
attributed to the foreign nations by Czechs.
77
Among negative Czech characteristics according to Klepetko
78
Czechs include
envy, laziness, thefts and dissatisfaction. According to Prokop,79 Czechs are said to
74
Koukolík, F. (2015).
Češi: Proč jsme kdo jsme – a jak dál
. Praha: Galén.; Labischová, D. (2013).
Češi, Slováci a jejich sousedství: Identita – stereotyp – historické vědomí.
CIVILIA – odborná
revue pro didaktiku společenských věd
, 4(2), pp. 46–54.
75
Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity, aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní
památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79.; Labischová, D. (2013). Češi, Slováci a jejich
sousedství: Identita – stereotyp – historické vědomí.
CIVILIA – odborná revue pro didaktiku
společenských věd
, 4(2), pp. 46–54.; Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ:
Národní identita a postkomunistická transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické
nakladatelství.
76
Holý dealt with the Czech national identity of people during the normalization period and
after the collapse of the communist regime. According to Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk
a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická transformace společnosti
. Praha:
Sociologické nakladatelství, pp. 68–69) “The Czech nation survived three centuries of
oppression not thanks to its heroes, but thanks to small Czech people who made the nation.
The other side of the conceptualization of a typical member of the Czech nation as a small
Czech man is the construction of the Czech nation as a nation of simple, ordinary and nothing
special people.” According to Holý, this description of Czechism also corresponds to Švejk.
77
Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, p. 78.
78
Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity, aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní
památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79. p. 72.
79
Prokop, D. (2015b). Kapitola 36: Mýtus stěžovaného národa, aneb co si Češi nalhávají
o Češích. In P. Lyons, R. Kindlerová eds.,
47 odstínů české společnosti
(pp. 228–232). Praha:
Sociologický ústav AV ČR.

86
Veronika Kolaříková
be endlessly complaining nation, but recent research did not confirm this. Nor was
the tendency towards excessive envy. Yet envy as autostereotype of the Czechs is
also mentioned by Labischová,
80
who in the list of Czechs autostereotypes
complements cowardice, inconsistency and inability to resist at the time of
oppression. Also Holý
81
draws attention to envy as an autostereotype of Czech
people and complements intolerance, setting small goals, conformity and the
related orientation of man and his activities to a narrow circle of family, friends
and colleagues. Everything beyond these limits is perceived by a “small Czech” as
potentially threatening and untrustworthy. Similarly, in 2015, according to
Prokop,
82
the fear of foreigners was apparent among Czechs, manifesting itself
more strongly in the young generation and in group of people who do not have
personal experience with members of other nationalities. As another negative
feature of Czechs, according to Labischová,
83
there is mentioned alcoholism.
According to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
84
the Czech Republic is one of the countries with the highest alcohol consumption.
Alcohol is associated with high tolerance for drinking and the Czechs are called
a nation of beer-drinkers. According to Vinopal
85
beer has a specific position in
Czech culture since the 15th century. During the Czech National Revival the pub
was one of the few public places for speaking in Czech and for discussing revival
efforts. Pubs thus became the centre of the development of the Czech social and
cultural life and beer became a constitutive element of patriotic ideology.
How the Czechs perceive the stereotype of a typical Czech depends, to some
extent, not only on a discursive basis and the prevalence of the respondent itself, but
also on how deeply is man identified with its own nationality. People little identified
with Czech identity perceive a typical Czech as more neurotic, less conscientious,
less welcoming, less extraverted and less open to new experiences than people more
identified with Czech identity. Those perceive a typical Czech more in a range of
neutral characteristics, rather than in some positive characteristics and the opposite
to those who attribute people identified with Czech less often.
86
80
Labischová, D. (2013). Češi, Slováci a jejich sousedství: Identita – stereotyp – historické
vědomí.
CIVILIA – odborná revue pro didaktiku společenských věd
, 4(2), pp. 46–54.
81
Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
82 Prokop, D. (2015a). Kapitola 35: Proč se bojíme cizinců? In P. Lyons, R. Kindlerová eds., 47
odstínů české společnosti
(pp. 224–227). Praha: Sociologický ústav AV ČR.
83
Labischová, D. (2013). Češi, Slováci a jejich sousedství: Identita – stereotyp – historické
vědomí.
CIVILIA – odborná revue pro didaktiku společenských věd
, 4(2), pp. 46–54.
84
OECD. (2018).
Alcohol consumption (indicator).
[cit. 9. 10. 2018]. Available from:
https://data.oecd.org/healthrisk/alcohol-consumption.htm
85
Vinopal, J. (2005). Fenomén pivního patriotismu v české společnosti.
Naše společnost
, 3(2),
s. 31–37.
86
Vlachová, K., ed. (2015).
Národní identity a identifikace: Česká republika – Visegrádská čtyřka
– Evropská unie
. Praha: Slon. p. 46.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
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•
Czech national traditions - intangible cultural heritage
National traditions play a similar role to society as national myths, but they are
not the same things. Unlike myth, tradition is claiming continuity with the past, it
is not a memory of the past; tradition considers itself as a more or less organic
sequel.
87
The concept of tradition refers to the cultural heritage passed down
through generations per generation.
88
We rank traditions, folk customs and rituals
to the intangible cultural heritage, which is a dynamic part of the culture being
selected by a social group in order to preserve it for future generations. It consists
of oral traditions and expressions including language, performing arts, social
practices, ceremonies and festive events, knowledge and experience related to
nature and space, skills associated with traditional crafts.
89
Czech intangible cultural heritage is reflected in forms of folk culture, which
according to Kouřil
90
as a symbol of folklorization of the people occupies an
important position among self-legitimizing narratives of the nation-state. Folklore
manifestations are associated with a specific public events and festivities. Folk
traditions are usually related to individual seasons that have always determined the
natural course of everyday life. There are four seasons in the Czech Republic.
Spring is typically associated with Easter or “burning witches”, summer with
harvesting and pilgrimages, autumn is tied with autumn harvest, feasts, St.
Wenceslas, All Souls’ Day and winter with St. Nicholas, Christmas, New Year,
Groundhog Day etc. Within the framework of specific folk traditions, it is possible
to perceive regional conditionality that suggests that national identity is closely
connected with regional identities and that these identities can influence and
complement each other.
The verbal folklore (fairy tales, songs, folk theatre) was considered as a symbol
of Czechism in the 19
th
century.
91
This folklore was associated with
a romanticizing view and was often reflected in the works of Erben, Čelakovský,
Šafařík and other authors. Fairy tales remain part of the Czech self-concept till this
day. A Czech fairy tale is considered as something traditional and basically makes
up the product of Czech traditional craft. Czech fairy-tales have a typical fairy-tale
character, which is “Foolish” Honza. Foolish Honza was originally the actor of the
87
Hroch, M. (2009).
Národy nejsou dílem náhody: Příčiny a předpoklady utváření moderních
evropských národů.
Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, p. 191.
88
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel české republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum, p. 22.
89
Janeček, P. (2015). Evropská etnologie a koncept nehmotného kulturního dědictví.
Národopisná revue
, 25(3), pp. 273–282, p. 275.
90
Kouřil, P. (2004). Displacement a pojem tradiční lidové kultury.
Sociální studia
, 1(2),
pp. 43–56. P. 43.
91
Pavlicová, M. (2015). Folklor a folklorismus v historické a sociální perspektivě. In
A. Křížová, M. Pavlicová a M. Válka,
Lidové tradice jako součást kulturního dědictví
(pp. 165–204). Brno: Masarykova univerzita.

88
Veronika Kolaříková
tales with no good ending, and Honza usually was there and also often remained
the fool. However, fairy tales, with the contribution of writer Božena Němcová,
gradually transformed, got a good ending and their content gained an educational
character - encouraged to diligence, hard work, and kindness. In the 20
th
century,
Honza’s positive image stabilized. Foolish Honza is nowadays perceived as stupid
only seemingly. Stupidity is attributed to him by his surroundings like his stigma.
But at the right moment, Honza always proves his cleverness, honesty and courage.
Honza can also be described as the owner of the common sense, a fearless or
confused survivor. It is true that across different period Honza as a folk character
remained a certain representation of cultural stereotypes of the nation, especially
its rural population.
92
•
Czechs and material cultural heritage
In the 19
th
century, material culture phenomena began to be used to construct
national identity, which typically include folk clothing, which was created in
contrast to non-folk clothing, that is, the garments of members of the nobility, the
rich bourgeoisie, the church or the army. With national identity architecture is also
related. In the second half of the 19th century, the village house was promoted to
one of the symbols of nationally understood national culture and as part of the
cultural heritage began to be documented, studied and became a model and
a source in drawing up the Czech idea National Building Style, which was to
become an expression of national identity.
93
The life of the rural population and
its culture has become a symbol of Czechism. The villager was perceived as
a preserver of the Czech language and thus as a “true Czech.” All attention was
dedicated to the traditional and pre-industrialized ways of life of the peasants who
were idealized. Topics related to negative features of rural life (lack of hygiene,
alcoholism) as well as the fact that the villagers did not deal with the national
question as much as they did revivalists in cities, has been delayed.
94
The material cultural heritage can also include important architectural
buildings, works of art, including applied arts, which are often part of museum
collections, literary works, inventions or dishes, etc. Traditional dishes are mainly
associated with specific days of the year, holidays and important events
92
Kubů, E. – Šouša, J. (2017). Pohádkový Honza. Zamyšlení nad jedním z mentalitních
symbolů české vesnice druhé poloviny 19. a prvních decennií 20. století.
Historická
sociologie
, 1(2017), pp. 127–135.
93
Válka, M. (2015). Lidový dům a národní kulturní dědictví. In A. Křížová, M. Pavlicová
a M. Válka,
Lidové tradice jako součást kulturního dědictví
(s. 89–164). Brno: Masarykova
univerzita. pp. 93–94.
94
Rak, J. (1994).
Bývali Čechové... (české historické mýty a stereotypy)
. Jinočany: H & H.;
Pavlicová, M. (2015). Folklor a folklorismus v historické a sociální perspektivě. In
A. Křížová, M. Pavlicová a M. Válka,
Lidové tradice jako součást kulturního dědictví
(pp.
165–204). Brno: Masarykova univerzita.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
89
(Christmas, Easter, weddings, etc.). As the traditional food of Czechs it is
considered pork roast with dumplings and cabbage, sirloin and pork cutlet. Also
stew, dumplings, stuffed buns, potato pancake, roast goose or duck. Czech cuisine
is considered to be rich and tasty by Czechs.
95
•
Czechs and their specific values and attitudes
Basic human values are usually stable over time, and as Lyons
96
points out,
their characteristics tend to have a strong national basis and regional cultural
values are not as import as the national ones in many countries. The question if
fundamental values of Czechs are unique, Lyons put himself. According to him the
survey showed that collectivist and conservative values are combined by Czechs.
On the one hand, the Czechs recognize the value of social justice and help others,
and on the other hand they also have conservative attitudes based on respect for
traditions.
A specific value or rather an attitude may be pride in one’s own nation, the so-
called patriotism and feeling of belonging to other members of the nation.
According to Šubrt and Vinopal,
97
contemporary Czechs do not address the issue
of national identity too much and they do not belong to the most proud nations.
Yet pride to be Czech feel 85 % of respondents. According to the results of the
survey European Values Study from 2017 only 28 % of men are very proud of
being Czech citizens, 51 % are quite proud of it. Very proud of being Czech citizens
are 37 % of women and 49 % of them are quite proud.
98
The Czechs are mostly
proud of history, literature, art, science, technique and sports achievements.
99
On
the contrary, they are not very proud of the functioning of Czech democracy; they
are not pleased with the small political influence of the Czech Republic in the
world, functioning of the economy and social security. Šubrt and Vinopal
100
explain that little pride on the performance of the state is typical for nations that
have undergone a long period of illegitimacy an authoritarian or totalitarian
system of governance.
95
Seidlová, A. (2003). Česká tradiční kuchyně.
Naše společnost,
1(3–4), pp. 5–11.
96 Lyons, P. (2015a). Kapitola 28: Je možné měřit lidské hodnoty? A jsou lidské hodnoty Čechů
jedinečné? In P. Lyons, R. Kindlerová eds.,
47 odstínů české společnosti
(pp. 173–1179). Praha:
Sociologický ústav AV ČR, p. 179.
97
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel České republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum, p. 177.
98
Rabušic, L. – Chromková Manea, B. (2018).
Hodnoty a postoje v České republice 1991–2017:
Pramenná publikace European Values Study
. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, p. 228.
99
Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity, aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní
památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79.; Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel České republiky perspektivou sociologického výzkumu
. Praha:
Karolinum.
100
Šubrt, J., Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel České republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum, p. 178.

90
Veronika Kolaříková
3.4. Czechs and National territories, National state
Within the subcategory Czech language, the study has already outlined that the
concept of Czech identity among Czechs historically and culturally based
primarily on the ethnic-cultural model of the nation’s construction, which
emphasized the connection of Czechs in the area of common culture (including
language and traditions) and history. However, the concept of the homeland as
a specific national territory has been gradually integrated into the concept and
remains part of it to this day. This is evidenced, for example, by the findings of the
European Values Study from 2017 according to which 73 % of Czech respondents
agreed on that in order to be a true Czech, it is important that a person was born
in the Czech Republic and has a Czech origin, i.e. has ancestors from the Czech
Republic – 70 % of respondents agreed on this.
101
This is also related to the fact
that Czech citizenship is in the Czech Republic acquired by the principle of ius
sanguinis (“the law of blood”), i.e. in situation when his/her parents are Czech
nationals. At the same time respondents (94 %) agreed that true Czech respects the
political institutions and laws of the Czech Republic.
•
Important places of the Czech Republic
The Czech nation state and its geographical location are associated with
important places, which are perceived by Czechs as symbols of national history as
well as places representing Czech nation. Among the important places people rank
Prague, which was already perceived as a symbol of power of the country and its
“mother” during the time of Czechoslovakia. As an important symbol of
Czechness there are perceived also Hradčany, Wenceslas Square, Prague Castle,
Charles University and Karlštejn castle. Outside Prague then people consider Ăíp
mountain to be important places, places associated with World War II such as
towns Terezín and Lidice, Tábor, pilgrimage site Velehrad and Vítkov Hill,
Olomouc and Kroměříž, places connected with Czech natives, Václav Havel
Airport and others.
102
National monuments and sculptures are connected with important places and
personalities (e.g. sculptures of Masaryk), which have not only artistic and
aesthetic character. According to Koselleck,
103
the aim of memorials is not just
101
Rabušic, L. – Chromková Manea, B. (2018).
Hodnoty a postoje v České republice 1991–2017:
Pramenná publikace European Values Study
. Brno: Masarykova univerzita. pp. 235-237.
102
Šubrt, Vinopal et al., 2013, pp. 124-126; Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity,
aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79.; Holý, L.
(2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
103
Koselleck, R. (2002). War Memorials: Identity Formation of the Survivors. In R. Koselleck.
The Practice of Conceptual History: Timing History, Spacing Concepts
(pp. 285–326). Stanford:
Stanford University Press.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
91
about trying to keep in people´s minds memories of the death people, but above
all symbolize identity (based on symbols of honesty, victory, heroism, martyrdom,
etc.) that people can acquire and share. Monuments have an (self) identification
function ant their main aim is to promote especially national identity. An
interesting feature of the Czech environment is the fact that, there is only few
memorials about victorious battles or famous warlords (except Žižka). The Czechs
are more concerned with symbolizing the suffering and depicting martyrs (Hus,
St. Wenceslas) than with celebrating victory and its representatives.
104
•
Fauna and flora of the Czech Republic
The nation is symbolized by a certain type of landscape, which can be called
a national country. Given the nature of the national landscape, members of
a nation can define their homeland, which can be in the Czech context reflected
not only in the description of the beauty of local nature (often rural), but also in
the absence of sea and beaches, high mountains, glaciers, deserts, etc. On the
contrary, the Czech Republic has forests rich in mushrooms and this can lead
along with certain socio-cultural conditions to develop the phenomenon of
mushroom hunting, which is typical for Czechs. Another typical Czech
phenomenon is spending time at second houses, which is usually put into context
with the era of socialism. But Schindler-Wisten
105
points out that modern
beginnings of this phenomenon we can see in Czech history two decades earlier.
Residents of cities spent their free time in cottages also because of other
circumstances and motives than simply because of escaping from political life.
This is evidenced by the never-ending interest in this type of leisure activities after
1989.
At the centre of attention there is also the “possession” of mineral resources,
whose essential component in the Czech Republic is coal production, which still
affects national identity (and regional identity) to this day. Not only the specific
flora but also the fauna is associated with the national landscape. Thanks rugged
relief and the varied landscape character of the Czech Republic, its fauna is rich;
42 thousand species of known animals here.
106
•
Czech state symbols
The official state symbolism of the Czech Republic is defined by the Czech
Constitution, which says that among the Czechs National symbols there belong big
and small national emblem, national colours, national flag, flag of the President,
104
Holý, L. (2010).
Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ: Národní identita a postkomunistická
transformace společnosti
. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství.
105
Schindler-Wisten, P. (2017).
O chalupách a lidech: Chalupářství v českých zemích v období tzv.
normalizace a transformace.
Praha: Karolinum, p. 10.
106
Anděra, M. – Sovák, J. (2018).
Atlas fauny České republiky
. Praha: Academia.

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state seal and national anthem. The function of these symbols is identification and
representative and these symbols contribute to the reminiscence of the historical
continuity of the country.
107
The transformation of these symbols is related to
specific historical events and periods that are part of the Czech history. For
national flags, according to Eriksen
108
it is typical that they are ambiguous,
respectively multivalent, to prove to create a symbolic bond and a sense of
community among people who are very different and have different interests.
People can interpret the flag in different ways according to theirs personal
experience. Through the simple national symbol people can feel national
belonging. In this way, state rituals can actually act as symbols that lead to
collective action.
•
Political institutions and laws of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic in which the legislative
body forms a bicameral parliament consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate, the executive body of power is the government of the Czech Republic and
the head of state is the President. The constitution of the Czech Republic forms the
basis of the legal system adopted in 1993.
•
The Czech currency – Czech crown
In the context of national identity, the currency used in a given society also
plays a role that helps to define “us” towards nations with a different currency. The
Czech crown was officially introduced on 1 January 1993 as the Czech currency.
This new currency became a symbol not only of the Czech Republic, but also
symbol of events connected with the separation of the Czech and Slovak
Republics. No less important there are also motives found on banknotes that
represent important personalities for the nation, historical scenes and symbols. In
the construction of identities, the Euro can play a specific role, since it represents
not only the currency used in the country, but also country’s membership of the
European Union, whose members have adopted the euro as their own currency.
•
Czechs and their relationship to Europe and the European Union
The Czech Republic has been a part of the European Union since 2004. Since
then, the relationship of Czechs has gone through some developments, and over
the years the proportion of people who think the European Union has too much
influence on people’s lives in the Czech Republic has risen.
109
Public Opinion
107
Sedláček, P. (2007).
Symboly republiky
. Praha: Úřad vlády České republiky.
108
Eriksen, T. H. (2008).
Sociální kulturní antropologie: Příbuzenství, národnostní příslušnost,
rituál
. Praha: Portál, pp. 272–273.
109
Šubrt, J. – Vinopal, J., et al. (2013).
Historické vědomí obyvatel České republiky perspektivou
sociologického výzkumu
. Praha: Karolinum.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
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Research conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic in April 2019
110
brings results slightly more positive. According to
research, people’s satisfaction with EU membership is highest since 2010, although
it has not changed much compared to last year. Satisfaction with Czech
membership in the European Union, is expressed by less than two fifths of Czech
citizens (37 %) and over a quarter (26 %) is dissatisfied. According to the latest
European research Eurobarometer published in summer 2018,
111
however, the
Czechs belong to nations that tend to distrust the European Union alongside
Greeks and Englishmen. Moreover, the majority of Czechs (67 %) think that the
Czech has little influence among Member States and its voice is usually unheard.
65 % of Czech citizens even think that European Union decisions are not in the
interest of the Czech Republic.
112
According to the results of the Eurobarometer 59 % of Czechs feel like
members of the European Union and 40 % of them do not feel to be citizens of
European Union. For the Czechs, the European Union means above all the
possibility of free travel, study and employment opportunities, but along with this,
bureaucracy is considered as synonym for the European Union. The lack of
control of external borders is also perceived by Czechs in the EU context as
insufficient. On the other hand, public opinion survey from April 2019 states that
people are satisfied with European integration in the field of defence, as well as
ecology. At the same time, according to the Eurobarometer, the EU is not seen by
most Czechs as a source of economic prosperity or social protection. Unlike other
EU members, the Czechs do not identify the European Union too much with the
euro, peace or cultural diversity.
3.5. Other elements and sites of memory related to Czech national identity
•
Czechs and sport as an important element of the national identity
Sport events are an important part of not only Czech national identity. In Czech
Republic are to the process of construction of Czech identity involved for example,
110
Tisková zpráva Názory veřejnosti na členství České republiky v Evropské unii – duben 2019
.
(2019). Sociologický ústav AV ČR: Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 27. 6. 2019].
Available from: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c2/a4920/f9/
pm190502.pdf
111
Standard Eurobarometer 89 – Spring 2018. (2018).
Public opinion in the European Union:
First results
. European Union: Kantar Public Brussels on behalf of TNS opinion & social. [cit.
27. 12. 2018]. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/
index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/STANDARD/surveyKy/2180
112
Tisková zpráva Hodnocení evropské integrace – duben 2019.
(2019). Sociologický ústav
AV ČR: Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění. [cit. 27. 6. 2019]. Available from:
https://cvvm. soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c2/a4928/f9/pm190528.pdf

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in the hockey victory in the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1988, or celebrating the
victorious Olympian Ester Ledecká, who became a media-sought celebrity after her
success in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Eriksen
113
considers sport as an important
ritual of modern times that can play a role in the process of expressing national
identity. Klepetko
114
agrees with this, because his questionnaire survey showed that
some Czechs appreciate collective companionship during sporting matches and
they are proud of sporting achievements during the Olympic Games, in hockey or
tennis. Among the important Czechs, then, respondents appointed important
Czech athletes (Jágr, Zátopek and others).
•
Czechs and religion
The Czech Republic is perceived by us and in the world as one of Europe’s most
atheist states. Most Czechs (more than 80 %) say they do not believe in God, which
according to Lyons
115
does not mean they do not believe in anything else. 4 out of
10 Czechs believe in “something.” It is not necessarily a Christian or Catholic faith,
many believers do not associate their faith with any church, yet religion plays an
important part for them. Also Laudátová and Vido
116
point out that the fact that
even though many Czech residents do not subscribe to any religion, it may not
mean that Czechs are disbelieving or atheistic nation. Religious affiliation does not
have to overlap with religious beliefs necessarily. More people from the older
generation than young people subscribe to religion in the Czech Republic. This is
also corresponded to by the fact that over the years it has been possible to see
a decline in people claiming to faith. The total number of believers in the
population fell from 43 % in 1991 and 1999 to 31 % in 2008 and proportionately
to this, in the society there were added more convinced atheists, that is, people
rejecting any concept of God.
Nevertheless, the Czech identity is linked to religion, largely to Christianity to
some extent, because the Czech traditions and culture are also linked to it.
Christianity was in the year 2013 an important part of the Czech identity for 29 % of
respondents, mostly those who subscribe to the Christian faith themselves and those
living in settlements with a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants. On the
contrary, Christianity is not linked to Czech identity by young people under 35.
117
113
Eriksen, T. H. (2008).
Sociální kulturní antropologie: Příbuzenství, národnostní příslušnost,
rituál
. Praha: Portál, pp. 273–275.
114
Klepetko, R. (2014). Současná role národní identity, aneb proč (ne)stavíme národní
památníky.
Kulturní studia
, 1 (2014), pp. 64–79. p. 69.
115
Lyons, P. (2015b). Kapitola 25: Je náboženství v České republice mrtvé? In P. Lyons,
R. Kindlerová eds.,
47 odstínů české společnosti
(pp. 155–159). Praha: Sociologický ústav
AV ČR.
116
Laudátová, M. – Vido, R. (2010). Současná česká religiozita v generační perspektivě.
Sociální
Studia,
7(4), pp. 37–61, p. 52.
117
Vlachová, K., ed. (2015).
Národní identity a identifikace: Česká republika – Visegrádská čtyřka
–
Evropská unie
. Praha: Slon, p. 141.

Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal
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•
Other artefacts of a symbolic nature relating to Czech national identity
Not all artefacts that are historically linked to Czech national identity are at the
same time classified in a material cultural heritage area. Artefacts that are linked
in the minds of the Czechs or in media discourse to the Czech Republic are
therefore designated for a separate subcategory, which is intended for further
fulfilment in the context of follow-up research investigations. We can include here
things like the Trabant and the Panel House, onion-patterned dishes, Czech
grenade, etc.
118
Let us note that these are often things from the socialism era,
which are now part of the phenomenon of “retro.” Phenomenon retro as part of
a fashion wave, and perhaps also as kind of nostalgia, place these objects in new
contexts of usage and symbolism.
Conclusion
In its theoretical anchoring, the study was predominantly based on the current
modernist paradigm (Gellner), with which the study identifies in terms of the
concept of national identity as a modern phenomenon linked to the emergence of
nationalism and a on the ethnosymbolist paradigm (Hroch, Smith), which offers
a stimulating space for understanding the national identity as a group identity
constructed and existing in a specific historical-cultural context, which is
associated with the continuous generational transfer of elements around whose
national identity is constructed and reconstructed.
The aim of the study was to create a categorization scheme of elements
constructing the Czech national identity. The resulting coding key allows
categorizing the elements involved in the process of construction and formation of
the Czech national identity connected with the idea of what it means to be Czech.
By studying and analysing literature and related surveys on this topic, a coding key
was created. Coding key based on five main categories. Coding key based on five
main categories. They are category Czechs and their roots; Czechs and their shared
memories of important historical events and personalities; Czechs and their
characteristic cultural features; Czechs and national territory, National state; Other
elements and sites of memory related to the Czech national identity. All of these
categories contain other subcategories that further develop them they illustrate the
national identity they contain, constructing and shaping elements.
The aim of the coding key (presented categorization scheme of the elements
constructing Czech national identity), among other things, was to help anchor and
a typical image of Czech national identity that would correspond to the current
social discourse. This ideal-typical model and list of elements constructing Czech
national identity is useful for realizing how the Czech national identity within the
118
Havlůjová, H. – Najbert, J. et al. (2014).
Paměť a projektové vyučování v dějepise
. Praha: Ústav
pro studium totalitních režimů. p. 18.

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Veronika Kolaříková
Czech social discourse looks and therefore what most Czechs imagine under it.
But because it is ideally-typical model, it cannot be assumed that this form of
Czech national identity appears exactly in this form for all Czechs. It is also clear
that the coding key thus created will not be static in time, but its form may change
over time as it changes to change the form of social life and social reality. Still, this
model is for the next social science research is beneficial as it allows it to be used
in other researches that can for example, to find out to what extent the concept of
the Czech identity of selected respondents to this model approaching or moving
away. Potentially, the key can always be supplemented with additional elements.
An interesting finding is the fact that the elements involved in the process of
construction of the Czech national identity take on a relatively traditional form. In
concept of Czech national identity still dominates the reference to (sometimes
supposedly) a common national past (often it is “pre-national” ethnic history of the
Slavs) and the events that took place there. These events are interpreted in the context
of today’s time in a specific way (such as the First Republic), or are full of
contradictions (Hussiteism). They can be associated with the idea of the Golden Age
(the reign of Charles IV.) or with the memory of the period of decline (Munich
Agreement), which are often associated with specific places that have also become
symbols of the Czech nation and its historical experience (Charles University,
Wenceslas Square, Lidice, etc.). In addition to places created by people, typical
elements of the Czech landscape and related customs, such as mushrooming and
spending time at holiday cottages, are also involved in the creation of Czech identity.
Important elements of Czech national identities are important Czech personalities
who are perceived by people as people of national importance (Charles IV., Masaryk,
famous artists, inventors, but also fictional characters such as Švejk or Cimrman, etc.).
An important element on which Czech identity has been based since National Revival
is Czech language that helps shape the identity of our own group “we” – people
speaking Czech language. The role of the Czech state, whose territories and borders
help to categorize one’s own nation as distinct from other nations, also plays a similar
role today. The Czech state is also associated with the state symbols that participate in
the commemoration historical continuity of the country and its importance.
Significant elements involved in process of construction of Czech national identity are
cultural features and characteristic which are by people perceived as typical for their
nation. Often these are constructed autostereotypes, such as “golden Czech hands”,
which testify to the Czech diligence and skill. These conceptions of Czechism often
once again take a traditional form because they are connected with the ideas that of the
Czechs were constructed and reconstructed by national revivalists during the 19th
century. Important elements are also specific national values and attitudes (including
the degree of patriotism), but also Czech cultural heritage and national traditions
(verbal folklore, crafts, customs and traditions). Among others groups of elements
constructing Czech national identity can then form a specific relationship of Czechs to
religion. It turns out that the relationship of Czechs to religion is not as simple as it is
often reported by the media, which present the Czechs as a nation of “non-believers”.