Júlia Lovisek: Name Changes of the Street in Bratislava from Political Reasons after the Creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic
The study deals with the creation of street names in Bratislava and their changes of political character in the period from 1918 to 1938. This period was determining in the changes of Bratislava street names, because not only one political change happened, but with the creation of a new country, Czechoslovakia, an ethical re-arrangement started. In the period of street name changes, in 1921 in the city the Slovaks that were in minority position got to the position of a nation creating a state. For them, changing street names served not only for language and ethnically cultural goals, but it had also ideological goals, too. Symbolical dispossessing of Bratislava, the „joint square”, with which they wanted to represent real dispossession.
The author describes all those historical events that determined these street name changes of political character. From the 352 streets of Bratislava, the study statistically processes 245 street name changes of 160 streets. By introducing these data the author emphases the political goal – causing street name changes – to re-write the history of Bratislava and to erase everything that recalls German and Hungarian past of Bratislava. The result of this political effort was that street names of Bratislava lost that character that was created through the history.