The Frontiersmen as an Object of Czech Nationalism 1918–1935

This study investigates the phenomenon of the frontiersmen, that is, the Czech minority border communities, as a part of the discourse of the Czech nationalist movement. Via the example of the Czechoslovak National Democracy party, it traces the frontiersmen on two levels. In the first section, the study reconstructs the functions and significance that the nationalists attributed to Czechs living within a linguistically mixed (predominantly German‐speaking) region of Czechoslovakia. The second part seeks an answer to the question concerning the position the frontier phenomenon occupies within the myth–symbol complex of the Czech national identity and the philosophy of history. The conclusion is dedicated to evaluating the possibilities of viewing the frontiersmen as a specific variant of a national minority.