Kidnapped Souls: National Indifference and the Battle for Children in the Bohemian Lands, 1900–1948

by Tara Zahra

Throughout the nineteenth and into the early decades of the twentieth century, it was common for rural and working-class parents in the Czech-German borderlands to ensure that their children were bilingual by sending them to live with families who spoke the "other" language. As nationalism became a more potent force in Central Europe, however, such practices troubled pro-German and pro-Czech activists, who feared that the children born to their nation could literally be "lost" or "kidnapped" from the national community through such experiences and, more generally, by parents who were either flexible about national belonging or altogether indifferent to it. Highlighting this indifference to nationalism―and concerns about such apathy among nationalists―Kidnapped Souls offers a surprising new perspective on Central European politics and society in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on Austrian, Czech, and German archives, Tara Zahra shows how nationalists in the Bohemian Lands worked to forge political cultures in which children belonged more rightfully to the national collective than to their parents. Through their educational and social activism to fix the boundaries of nation and family, Zahra finds, Czech and German nationalists reveal the set of beliefs they shared about children, family, democracy, minority rights, and the relationship between the individual and the collective. Zahra shows that by 1939 a vigorous tradition of Czech-German nationalist competition over children had created cultures that would shape the policies of the Nazi occupation and the Czech response to it. The book's concluding chapter weighs the prehistory and consequences of the postwar expulsion of German families from the Bohemian Lands. Kidnapped Souls is a significant contribution to our understanding of the genealogy of modern nationalism in Central Europe and a groundbreaking exploration of the ways in which children have been the objects of political contestation when national communities have sought to shape, or to reshape, their futures.

Genres: History, European History, Grad School, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2008

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely academic but a really interesting read. It’s got me thinking a lot about nationalism at the turn of the 20th century and how her ideas affect other areas of Europe that also had a mixed ground of individuals.

[Jim Gulley · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Kidnapped Souls, Tara Zahra uses the intertwined social complexities of turn-of-the-century Bohemia to unpack Czech and German nationalism as the region left behind the Habsburg Monarchy and confronted Nazi occupation. A social history, she wrote her account through the prism of education and child welfare institutions. Zahra argued that widespread “national indifference,” Bohemian families that either refused to identify as either Czech or German or flip-flopped between the two, was a catalyst for “escalating nationalist radicalism” during the period. (5) National indifference demonstrated a parental agency that demanded a nationalist response. To that end, Czech and German nationalists created a political culture designed to stake claims on Bohemian children. These are Zahra’s Kidnapped Souls.

[Rebecca Crown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shows the fluidity of national identity in a region of Europe that faced intense competition between German and Czech nationalist movements in the first half of the 20th century. -Zach

[Baris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides fresh and original insight for the phenomenon of "nationalism" and "becoming nation" by focusing on the often-ignored issue of "national indifference." Tara Zahra's research shows how Czech and German nationalists of late nineteenth and early twentieth century tackled with the "national indifference" in Bohemian Lands, where many people were in fact bilingual.Nationalists, who were a minority until the rise of Fascism in Europe, fought vehemently for convincing parents for installing the idea of Czechness or Germanness to their children in the early age. Yet their efforts were mostly met by indifference among the citizens. "Kidnapped souls" brilliantly explains the dynamics of such tension between national indifference and nationalist claims on "nation's children" in great detail. Highly recommended for anyone who has interest in history of Central Europe, nationalism studies or even pedagogy.

[Benemint · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very impressive dissertation-based work. Her argument on 'national indifference' is thought-provoking for both historians and social scientists. It would be nicer if you know the historical background of this region, but even I (east asian major) got a lot out of it. A great model for my dissertation.

[University of Chicago Magazine]

Tara Zahra
Author