Národopisné oddělení Národního muzea v letech 1938–1948

Abstract

This text discusses the history of the Ethnographic Department during the 1938–1948 period, i.e., chiefly during the Second World War and the Third Czechoslovak Republic. There was the significant shift in the ideological concept of the National Museum, as the institution progressed from the ideology of Czechoslovakism to defence of the Czech nation, and it was also necessary to deal with the pervading Nazi ideology and its specific manifestations (e.g., Germanization and Aryanization). On a practical level, the department primarily had to cope with a lack of space, as well as the gradual loss of and the fluctuations in staff. The fate of Drahomíra Stránská, who was a key figure in the museum’s ethnography, is also discussed. On a conceptual level, the department did not advance much and remained at the level of descriptive or comparative ethnography with an emphasis on other Slavic nations and the domestic environment.