Közép-Európa – cseh szemmel
Central Europe seen through Czech eyes

Summary/Abstract: A 76-year-old Prague scholar’s seminal 1,110-page work on the history of Central Europe contains an unbelievable wealth of material, which in itself qualifies as a unique achievement. Jan Kren more or less shares the notion that Central Europe is the region between Germany and the former Soviet Union. This roughly means Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, a somewhat simplified definition compared to classifications hitherto applied. Nevertheless, the survey of the history of the past two hundred years of these four countries – the “long” 19th century and “short” 20th – is comprehensible to the non-expert, too, and the general tendencies typical of the region are also clearly identifiable and applicable under a more broadly construed definition of Central Europe. The essence of Kren’s book can be summarized somewhat simplistically. It shows that what undoubtedly holds true for Central Europe is that although the geopolitical interests of the nations and states in this region were identical (and remain so), their joint assertion, as a result of demagogy proclaimed as a national value and myopic politics pursued in the guise of various worldviews, was not at all or hardly ever considered. Jan Kren: Közép-Európa kétszáz éve. (Two Hundred Years of Central Europe.) Prague, Argo Publishers, 2006.

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