Trauma, Memory, Inheritance. The Czech reception of »Money from Hitler« by Radka Denemarková

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the Czech reception of the literary work Money from Hitler by Radka Denemarková. The second novel in the career of the Czech writer not only triggered much interest among readers, but also provoked a discussion about the issues essential for the Czech identity. Czech authors’ reviews and opinions concerning the novel focused on the memory of the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and on the impact of the communist era on both the memory about pre- and post-war history of Czechoslovakia and on the Czech mentality. Furthermore, interest was triggered by the literary quality of Money from Hitler. In this respect the assessment of the novel was rather inconclusive. The author of this article also draws our attention to the fact that the discussion about the literary work by Denemarková can be seen as a part of the debate in the public sphere regarding the roots of the contemporary Czech collective memory.