Les enjeux de la fraternité entre les nationalistes tchèques et français vers 1900

Résumé 0

French publicists discovered the Czech national question in the 1830’s. Edgar Quinet and later on Saint-René Taillandier spoke in favor of the emancipation of the Czech nation. After the Compromise of 1867, the Czech public turned more and more towards the French culture, accepting all that was originating from the French republican model and refusing all that symbolized the German influence. As a result, the Czech press tended to see France exclusively through the eyes of the French nationalists, disregarding the fact that these ideas were far from representing the general opinion. The anti-Semitic views of the French nationalists were as well resumed in the Czech lands, agitated at this time by the Hilsner affair. The relations between the French and Czech delegations visiting Prague and Paris on the turn of the 20th century shows thus a double misunderstanding: the French delegates did not perceive that their counterparts were isolated individuals in the Czech society which they portrayed as definitely anti-German people, on the other hand, these Czech politicians and publicists were not aware that they were not in touch with official France. Without neglecting completely these encounters for they gave a false idea of the French republic, the ambassador in Vienna did not take them too seriously. Beside the hypocrisy of some French intellectuals circles, these visits helped to spread the French culture into the Czech lands and touched quite a large population on the long run.