This panel presents two historical perspectives on the connection of beer to a national narrative and identity in Central Europe. Germany, and the Czech Lands both have strong sentimental and economic connections to beer and their local brewing industries. We explore specific examples from each location as we discuss the ways in which people developed and utilized their social and financial connections to beer as ways to connect to - and win - the support of “the masses.”

Speakers: 
John Gillespie, PhD Candidate in the Department of History, Vanderbilt University
Alison Orton, PhD Candidate in the Department of History, University of Illinois at Chicago

John Gillespie
Volksgetränk: People's Drink. National Drink. Staple Drink.

Volksgetränk: I first encountered this word while I was researching the history of beer in East Germany, what is today the former German Democratic Republic. The word Volk and its derivatives have a fraught history in German societies, and for more than two hundred years it has been associated with and used by political and cultural movements across the spectrum to denote their claims to truly know and truly represent the 'people'. What then would it mean for a beverage to be a Volksgetränk? This talk represents my initial findings and questions from my archival research, digital collections that I have been able to access, and critical scholarship such as Reinhard Koselleck's historical exploration of the word Volk. I hope my presentation will invite others to share their own perspectives, thoughts, and related experiences as I continue to pursue the meaning of this term in my work. 

John Gillespie is a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University researching the cultural politics of beer in the divided Germany and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, with a particular focus on questions of identity, state power, and nationalism. He earned bachelor’s degrees in History and English at Virginia Tech in 2013 and a master’s degree in European History at Middle Tennessee State University in 2017. His master’s thesis The People’s Drink: The Politics of Beer in East Germany 1945-1971 represents the initial work in his ongoing research.

Alison Orton
Beer Riots, Beer Boycotts and Other Attempts to win Hearts and Minds Using Saint Gambrinus’s Quaff: Bohemia 1897-1914

In August of 1897, five days of violence occurred in the western Bohemian town of Pilsen. During the violence, a group that identified as ethnically Czech destroyed hundreds of barrels from the town’s largest German-identified brewery.  This destruction marked the beginning of nearly twenty years of attempts to make Pilsner beer a nationalist and divisive product by both ethnic Czechs and ethnic Germans.  This talk explores and describes the often colorful ways in which nationalist activists attempted to harness the emotional pull of beer as they sought to win the hearts and minds of the average beer drinker.

 Alison Orton is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She is completing her dissertation, which examines how beer and the brewing industry were used as a means to express national affiliation in the late-nineteenth century Czech Lands, and among immigrants to the United States from Bohemia.

Thanks to Sterling Bay for supporting this event.