CZECH RUSSIANS: TOGETHER YET DIVIDED. DIFFERENTIATING NARRATIVES ABOUT CZECHOSLOVAK LEGIONS IN ORAL-HISTORICAL INTERVIEWS

Abstract

At the end of 2022, the research project "Czech Russians and crossroads of modern and contemporary history: biographical interviews" was completed. Research team was interested in the relationship of Czech Russians to key issues of modern Czech-Russian history, among which the story of the Czechoslovak legions (1914-1918) was focused on.

Several dominant narratives emerged when discussing and interpreting this issue within the interviews conducted during the research. At the same time, it was observed that the assessment of Czechoslovak legionnaires as historical actors is homogeneous and rather negative in nature.