Worldview of Czechoslovak and Polish Youth 1956-1968: Central European culture transfer as a challenge for Contemporary History of Europe
Abstract
The chapter compares foreign travels of Czechoslovak and Polish Youth in Western Europe 1956-1968. In contrary to Jürgen Kocka who emphasises comparative approach to history of East Central Europe, the chapter focuses on the role of culture transfer in contemporary history.
While the comparative approach divides contemporary history in the West European History on the one side and East European History on the other side, culture transfer tries to understand postwar European history as one phenomenon which has been characterized by mutual perception, various reception and appropriation of different meanings and notions. However, to explain history of West European societies more complex, it is necessary to take into account many ideas and actors who came from the East such as young generation travelling to the West since 1956.