Table 1
Development of state organizations and languages used in the region
| Period | Borders between | Border-crossing regime | Languages used on both sides of the border |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1871–1918 | Austrian Empire – Germany | Free | Almost exclusively German |
| 1918–1938 | Czechoslovakia – Germany | Strictly controlled | Predominantly German (with minor usage of Czech on the Czechoslovak side) |
| 1938–1945 | No borders (annexation of Sudetenland by the Third Reich) | Controlled with the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, free on the former 1918–1938 border | German (with minor usage of Czech) |
[i] Source: own elaboration
Figure 1
Overview of the geographical coverage of maps used in this paper (for numbering of maps see the list of maps at the end of the paper). Source: own elaboration
Figure 2
Comparison of the tourist trail on the old map of 1907 (Matouschek) and current tourist map. Source: left – Adolph, C Bengler, A. 1907 (1:100 000, author’s private collection); right – Seznam.cz 2018.
Figure 3
Indication of distance between two places in two countries (on a tourist map). Source: fragment of the map Vom Oybin bis zur Schneekoppe, Gustav Adolph, Gablonz 1927 or 1929 (1:100 000, author’s private collection).
Figure 4
Depiction of tourist marked paths (red lines) frequently crossing the border (blue ribbon). Source: fragment of Josef Matouschek’s tourist map Spezialkarte vom Jeschken und Isergebirge, Reichenberg 1927 (1:50 000, author’s private collection).
Figure 5
Illustration of the same border territory using Czech and German geopolitics. Source: Havránek 1926 (1:60 000), Adolph 1927/1929 (1:100 000), (both author’s private collection).
Figure 6
The “invisible” linguistic border and mis-depiction of the names of Czech villages by a cartographer publishing only in German (Gustav Adolph, 1927 or 1929, on the left) and a cartographer familiar with both languages (Josef Matouschek, 1927, on the right). Source: the image is from an interactive web map application developed for the purpose of studying and demonstrating the language boundary in the course of our project (Šmída, Vrbík 2017).
Figure 7
The example of a map with confusing political borders (Vom Oybin bis zur Schneekoppe map of 1939, see legend).
Source: own elaboration based on Adolph 1939 (1:100 000, author’s private collection).
Table 2
Border typology, their characteristics and appropriate old maps
| Type of border | Characteristics | Maps corresponding to the individual border types | Historical period |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Rigidly divide two countries | |||
| Alienated | • Militarized border areas | In 1938 | |
| • Minimal transborder traffic | |||
| •Borders filter transborder flows | Adolph, G 1927 or 1929, Vom Oybin bis zur Schneekoppe | ||
| Coexistent | • States maintain contact and cooperate | Havránek, J 1926, Krkonoše a Hory Jizerské | 1918–1938 |
| • Most land borders in the world | Matouschek, J 1927 , Spezialkarte vom Jeschken und Isergebirge | ||
| Inter-dependent | • Countries have achieved a high degree of political rapprochement and mutual trust | Adolph, G, Bengler, A 1907, Vom Oybin bis zur Schneekoppe | Until 1918 |
| • Visa regime is lifted, border areas are fully demilitarized | |||
| • Completely open border | Mapy.cz (Seznam.cz) | After Munich Agreement of 1938 – May 1945, 2007 – now | |
| Integrated | • Cross-border agglomerations and region with governance structurescreated | Adolph, G 1939, Vom Oybin bis zur Schneekoppe |
[i] Source: own elaboration