From Arch-Europe to Anti-Europe
Milan Kundera’s Essay on Central Europe
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Milan Kundera’s essay “The Kidnapped West” is a classic. In it, he sharply distinguished Central Europe from Russia. Unlike Russia, Central Europe, he wrote, is characterised by the greatest degree of diversity in the most confined amount of space. Cultural richness shapes the identity of Poles, Hungarians, and Czechoslovakians and inspires them to act together. In 1990, Central Europeans began their “return to Europe.” They wanted democracy, pluralism, and prosperity. Today, three of the four states are threatened with a relapse into pre-democratic conditions. Kundera is not responsible for the authoritarian turn. But his essay suggested that Central Europe was exceptional, obscured serious modernization deficits, and encouraged the suppression of fundamental truths. However, it remains key to understanding the mixture of inferiority complex and overconfidence that characterizes today’s Central European elites.
(Osteuropa 8-9/2025, pp. 67–78)