German Cultural Imperialism in Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1938–1945

Abstract

Between Reich destroyed the national independence of Czechoslovakia ' and, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, Poland. As a result, Germany acquired thirty million new subjects, only a minority ethnically German. The overwhelming majority, mainly Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Jews, were subjected to a far-reaching and often brutal programme of German cultural imperialism. The Germans intended to dismantle the foundations of indigenous culture, not only its language, but also its literature, theatre, music, and film and, in some of the territories, to replace them with a foundation on which an enduring German culture could be built.