Abstract
This article deals with a subject that has been somewhat overlooked in previous decades of Czech historiography, namely the fate and status of the nobility in the context of Czech twentieth-century history, particularly during the totalitarian eras. It deals with the problematic aspects of the nobility's relationship with the first Czechoslovak state, which are crucial in many ways for understanding the behaviour and actions of noble families during the Nazi occupation, when aristocratic society effectively divided into a group that sympathised with Nazism and a camp that remained loyal to the Czech state.