IMAGINING THE OTHER: NARRATIVES ON GERMANS AND HUNGARIANS IN INTERWAR HISTORY TEXTBOOKS PUBLISHED IN SLOVAKIA

This article seeks to explore the ways of interpreting the historical role of Germans and Hungarians in history textbooks used in primary and secondary schools in Slovakia in the interwar period, from 1918 until 1939. Historical narratives presented in school history textbooks contribute, alongside the family, media and public life, and rituals, to forming the way young people perceive the world around them. They are also one of the main tools for the social production of stereotypes of the Other. Fearing the Other is widespread in present-day Slovakia, and although the reason for this situation has been ascribed to the recent economic and current refugee crises, this paper argues that negative responses to the Other are also partially a by-product of the ethnocentric and etatist character of history education. The presented research is based on the study of stereotypes – generally shared impressions, images, or thoughts existing within certain groups of people about the character of a particular group of people and their representations. The article seeks to prove that the motivations behind state-produced prejudices against the members of other nations are driven by the need to present one’s own group (the nation) superior to the Other, which has been a reaction to the competition between the two groups, economic frustration or social crises. The article employs the techniques of critical discourse analysis.