OCTOBER 28, 1918 AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE ORIGIN OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN HISTORY TEXTBOOKS OF THE CZECHS’ NEIGHBOURS

October 28, 1918 represents one of the most important milestones of the Czech collective memory. Th e aim of the study is to capture the main traits of the explanatory refl ection of the events related to the formation of the fi rst Czechoslovak Republic in history textbooks of the selected neighbouring countries (Poland, Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary as a “historical neighbour”) and to compare them with the Czech approach, as well as mutually with each other focusing on the characteristics of educational texts which are typical for historical narration in each of the given countries. We focused in particular on the secondary school textbooks and a specifi c interpretation of the concrete themes which are accentuated in the national explanatory texts, on the one hand, or suppressed, on the other. Th e content analysis shows that there is an apparent eff ort for an objective approach, however, we can fi nd there also stereotypical views which the authors of textbooks oft en repeatedly adopt or derive from the same specialized publications. Th e objectivity of their elaboration could be achieved by the elimination of inaccuracies, the simplifying characteristics leaving aside some essential facets of the problem and by overcoming a one-sided view focused only on one situation or event and neglecting other essential historical information.