The Czech-German border area: the image of the other

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to verify the basic hypothesis, which claims that the Czechs have stereotypical and biased attitudes towards the Germans. A part of the hypothesis is also a claim that opinions or behavior of the Czechs in relation to the Germans is then affected by these stereotypes and prejudices. In case of the verification of the hypothesis, the thesis attempts to analyze the most common stereotypes. At the same it also tries to determine where and what is their origin, whether it is possible to trace their development and formation and reveal factors involved in the formation of these stereotypes. In addition to this analysis, the thesis also focuses on whether and how these prejudices manifest themselves in everyday life in the Czech border region. A part of the thesis also concentrates on contemporary Czech-German relations, or how they are perceived and judged by the people living in the Czech border region. The thesis is based on the field research during which narrative priorities, narrations and attitudes of eighteen interviewed Czechs of different age, education, occupation and social background were identified and analyzed. The main methods of data collection were semi-structured interviews, biographical method and oral history. The research was conducted in the..