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Imprisoned by Two Different Worlds. Czech Exile´s in Saxony´s Towns in the 17th century

Publication |
2013

Abstract

The submitted article introduces the experiernces of exiles, who, after the Battle of White Mountain, were forced to settle in the frontier towns of Saxony (Dresden, Meissen, Freiberg, Pirna) during the 1620s and 1630s. The autor shows, by means of a case study of selected refugees form the royal town of Slaný, the strategies that were used for a quick and successful settlement in this new environment, and their (non).integration into the society of Saxony townsfolk in the following years.

He reveals the stereotypes they were forced to face and how they coped with this unsolvable situation. Besides this, the author will try to demonstrate that those refugees who failed in their efforts to integrate, ane were forced to return to their country, found themselves in the difficult situaiton of havin to reintegrate into the original society.

Even in this case, the study outlines the changes created by the given situation, as well as the coping strategies by which the refugees returned and coped with these changes.