Never underestimate the power of historical relationships. Dan Bilefsky in the Times on the latest bratwurst battle:
When the Czech Republic unveiled an avowedly satirical artwork to mark the beginning of its European Union presidency last January, neighboring Slovakia was depicted as a giant Hungarian sausage.
It was a stinging humiliation for many Slovaks, who have spent centuries struggling to assert their own sense of nationhood, first as serfs under the Hungarian Kingdom in the 19th century and then as the poorer segment of the former Czechoslovakia.
Slovakia complained until the Czech government apologized.
When one country is defined by the other, then national identity is bound together, at least for one side. This mutual reinforcement and need creates the conditions for contentious relationships and diplomatic skirmishes, if not secured through economic growth and diplomatic recognition – think Flanders and The Netherlands, Austria and Germany, Hong Kong and China, in comparison to Israel and its Arab neighbors, India and Pakistan, and the US and Cuba.
The younger Mr. Simecka noted that while the two countries were inextricably linked, sharing a common history and similar but distinct languages, Slovakia all but disappeared when he crossed the border into the culturally assertive Czech Republic.
On the other side of the border, he said, Slovak language and culture were ignored, along with his country’s euros.
Bookshops in Bratislava are dominated by Czech literature, Czech films are shown on Slovak television and the foreign pages of Slovak newspapers brim with news from Prague, Mr. Simecka said, but finding a Slovak language book in a Czech bookstore was nearly impossible, while the Czech media generally accorded Slovakia the same attention as Luxembourg.
The main Czech concession to Slovakia, he mused, was to listen to Slovak pop music.
“Czechs care about themselves and are inward-looking,” he said. “Because Slovakia is so small, most Slovaks look abroad out of necessity.”
Maris Chemelik, 23, a Slovak student studying anthropology in Plsen, Czech Republic, said he had adopted a seamless Czech accent to avoid being recognized as Slovak. “I don’t feel at home in the Czech Republic,” he said. “We were the same country, and I should feel it is my home, but I don’t, because the Czechs never cease to remind me that it is not.”
Land and identity are two never ending sources of conflict. At least a sausage can be cut in half, eaten or taken down.
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