Rebekah Klein-Pejsova

My dissertation brings the evolution of nationhood after the First World War into focus through the examination of the rise, meaning, and function of the idea of Jewish nationality within the context of Czechoslovak state building. The process of integrating Slovakia most significantly impacted how the state would "see" expressions of Jewish nationality among the Jews there, who were suspect as potential accomplices to Hungarian irredentist ambitions due to overwhelming affiliation with Hungarian nationality before the war. Integration broke identities in Slovakia down into their cultural, linguistic, and political components, and redefined them within new borders, illustrating a complex set of relations among the territories that are today the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.