Call for Papers
Annual Conference of the Collegium Carolinum 2025
Fischbachau, 13 to 16 November 2025
Interwar Czechoslovakia emerged within a post-imperial context characterised by the establishment of new borders and barriers. Indeed, historians have characterized the interwar in Europe as a period of de-globalisation between the two major waves of globalisation that took place before 1914 and in the postwar period. However, the construction of Czechoslovakia was based not only on a narrative of national exclusiveness. Given their ethos of democracy and progress, Czechoslovak elites also championed cosmopolitanism and a sense of being open to the world. The construction of Czechoslovakia thus also involved participation in the circulation of ideas, people, goods, and capital.
So far, historians have addressed these networks mainly from the perspective of bilateral relations or by comparing two case studies. Only very recently has the question of Czechoslovakia’s complex transnational, international, and global entanglements become the object of scholarship. The aim of this conference is to provide a forum to this new research. We want to examine the extent to which, in what ways, and with what limitations Czechoslovakia was integrated into the globalized world during the interwar period - in terms of politics, economics, culture and representation.
The themes of the conference will include:
the involvement of Czechoslovak actors in international organizations,
the connections of the Czechoslovak economy to world markets and global transportation networks
the creation and dissemination of representations of the new state, and
the transnational networks of political movements, including universalist movements such as the communist but also of particularist and de-globalizing ones such as the Agrarian.
Other paper topics connected the main theme are also possible.
The conference is organized by the Collegium Carolinum in cooperation with the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It will take place in Fischbachau in the Bavarian Alps from 13 to 16 November 2025. The conference language is English. Subject to available funds, the organizers will cover the travel and accommodation costs of all participants. Papers should last approx. twenty minutes, followed by a discussion of equal length.
Scholars of all career stages are invited to submit paper proposals by 15 April 2025 to Dr Felix Jeschke (felix.jeschke@lmu.de). These should be in English and not exceed 3.000 characters in length (incl. spaces). Please also submit a CV. Applicants will be informed of the decision by the end of April.
The conference is organized by:
Dr Felix Jeschke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (felix.jeschke@lmu.de)
PhDr. Václav Šmidrkal, Ph.D., Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences (smidrkal@mua.cas.cz)
