Abstrakt
The Munich Agreement was without doubt an important turning point in the history of Czechoslovakia, both in its relations to Germany and for its internal development in all possible ways. The historical research, however, is almost exclusively focused on questions concerning politics or problems of ethnical (self-)identification.
Other branches of life, as economy, transport, sport etc. are still staying a little bit outside this main stream of research. In my paper, I will try to analyse a still almost unknown aspect of Czechoslovakian-German relations during the so called "Second Republic" (October 1938 - March 1939), namely the railway traffic between these two countries.
It is necessary to realize that railway traffic was the most common way to transport both people and goods at this time and it was in both countries' interest to keep it in order. The paper will focus especially on situations and problems that common passengers were facing, since the personal transportation is the main factor influencing the public opinion on railways.
Nevertheless, even the freight transport must be at least shortly analysed because of its important role for functioning economy. An important question, which the paper will try to answer as well, is the nature of relations between Czechoslovakian railway employees and their German counterparts - did these relations copy the "high politics", or could professionals on both sides of the new borders cooperate to keep the traffic in order?