From acknowledgment to omission and back – how the treatment of common past is conditional on the priorities of the day. The case of the diplomatic relations between Romania and Czechoslovakia between, 1945 and 1990
From acknowledgment to omission and back – how the treatment of common past is conditional on the priorities of the day. The case of the diplomatic relations between Romania and Czechoslovakia between, 1945 and 1990

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the role of the past in shaping the diplomatic relationships between two countries. The case discussed in this article is the special relationship between Romania and Czechoslovakia. At the end of the Second World War, Romanian troops have freed the Slovak teritorries from the nazi occupation. The expection was that this historical moment will put an indelible mark on the evolution of the bilateral relations between Romania and Czechoslovakia. However, a thorough study of the archives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs unveils that the reality was different. There were indeed moments when both officials and the wider population acknowledged publicly in strong words the Romanian contribution to the eliberation of Czechoslovakia, but almost the entire period between 1945 and 1990 was rather marked by public ommision and neglect of this important moment in the history of the two countries – mostly due to the tight control of the Soviet Union over the Czechoslovak communist leadership. Evidence from the archives suggests that any time the two countries tried to distance themselves from Moscow, anytime the top communist leaders in Bucharest and Prague developed personal and ideological affinities, the czechoslovak autorities brought the past back into the present of the bilateral relationship by praising the sacrifice of the Romanian soldiers in freeing the Slovak territories at the end of the World War Two.

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