The Germans’ Sonnwendfeier : From Folk Festival to Radical Right-Wing Mobilizing Ritual

• Authors: Nancy Wingfiled
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Th is article analyzes the transition of German summer solstice celebrations in the Bohemian Lands from folk festivals to radical right-wing mobilizing rituals between the turn of the twentieth century and 1938. During the interwar period, these celebrations were a response to the historic and/ or invented traditions of the First Republic, which were at the intersection of Czech (-oslovak) national identity as a construction of linguistic-cultural affi liation. Th e transformation of the Sonnwendfeier to a modern, mass, radical right-wing tool for organizing and maintaining a racial community parallels the growing radicalization of the nationally identifying Germans across Habsburg Central Europe between the world wars. Summer solstice celebrations played an important role in the construction of a Sudeten German community from the bottom up during the 1930s.

Keywords

EN

celebration; invented tradition

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Masaryk's Institute and Archives, ASCR
• Journal: Střed. Časopis pro mezioborová studia Střední Evropy 19. a 20. století. / Centre. Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 9-31
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Nancy Wingfiled

• Masarykův ústav a archiv AV ČR, v.v.i., Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic