World War II Monuments and Graves in the Hlučín Region: Fallen Hlučín Soldiers as a Contested Realm of Memory in the Czech Culture of Remembrance
Abstrakt
This chapter examines the public manifestations of the culture of remembrance of WWII in the Hlučín Region, with an emphasis on the commemorations of the fallen local soldiers fighting in the Wehrmacht. The aim of the text is to describe the public commemorations of WWII in the Hlučín Region, and to examine the relation between the regional and the mainstream Czech narrative.
The core difference between the narratives arises from the fact that the Hlučín residents took part in WWII on the side of the Germans. I investigate the means used in the commemorations, as well as who initiates, organizes and finances the commemorations and what are the motivations of the commemorations' participants.
Among the means, I focus on the analyses of the memorials and graves of the fallen soldiers, as well as on acts of piety. I concentrate on the period after the Velvet Revolution, when the particular narrative of the Hlučín Region ceased to be a taboo.