"National oppression" as an argument for historical and identity politics : Slovaks, Czechs and Hungarians in the interwar period
Abstract
The instrumentalization of national history in modern societies has an important function. Narratives about the past are strongly influenced by the social context in which they are created and therefore often convey ideological content.
According to this approach, historical myths are a special phenomenon that should not be treated as artificial, invented stories. Rather, I use the term in the sense of György Schöpflin, who assumes that myths contain national truths of general validity, usually recorded in the form of stories and lived and maintained by a particular community as a truth about itself.
These include, for example, myths about the "golden age," the "civilizing mission," or even about "oppression" and "betrayal" ("Dolchstoßlegende"). My goal, therefore, is not to dismiss these ideas as false or unfounded - although I acknowledge their constructed character - but to examine how, why, and when these stories "work."