Nourishing contested borderlands

Horák, Pavel (author), Kosi, Jernej (author)

In Prekmurje and Teschen Silesia, food provisioning became a critical tool of state legitimacy amid political contestation after the First World War. The Czechoslovak government used the demarcation line and food distribution to garner local support during the plebiscite campaign in Teschen, while Poland struggled with inefficiencies and competing priorities. Prekmurje’s fragmented administration and weak state presence allowed smuggling and shortages, fueling discontent and pro-Hungarian demonstrations. Yugoslav authorities responded with land reforms, infrastructure development, and migration controls. The meeting of basic material needs—food, land, and a stable livelihood—was paramount in shaping popular loyalties and new states’ legitimacy in the contested borderlands.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Teschen Silesia, Prekmurje, borderlands, food supply, political legitimacy, 1919
• Work type: Other
• Typology: 1.16 - Independent Scientific Component Part or a Chapter in a Monograph
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 221-276
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-183246
• UDC: 641:94(431.4Tešin+497.12Prekmurje)"1919"
• DOI: 10.5117/9789633869185-5
• COBISS.SI-ID: 272138755
• Publication date in RUL: 09.06.2026

Record is a part of a monograph

• Title: Nourishing victory : food shortages and Post-Imperial Transition in the Bohemian Lands and Slovenia
• Editors: Václav Šmidrkal, Rok Stergar
• Place of publishing: Budapest [etc.]
• Publisher: CEU Press
• ISBN: 978-96-3386-918-5
• COBISS.SI-ID: 272024579

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Tešinska Šlezija, obmejna območja, preskrba s hrano, politična legitimnost

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: N6-0190-2021
• Name: Hraniti zmago: Preskrba s hrano in postimperialna tranzicija v čeških deželah in Sloveniji, 1918-1923