Today’s Germanism in the English language is one widely open for interpretation, although it might not seem so at first sight. The term Mitteleuropa (pronounce: ‘mittle-oy-‘ro-pah, meaning Central Europe) can be used politically, physiographically, or cultural-historically. And as, over the millennia, there has been a lot of migration and wars, its references have kept shifting here and there.
When I grew up in Germany, Mitteleuropa was pretty clearly defined by the Iron Curtain as its eastern border. After the Fall of the Wall, and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the area moved farther eastward. In school we were taught that, geologically, Europe was bordered by the Ural Mountains in the East. So, I guess, we created our own ideas that were a mix between political borders and geological plates.
Interestingly, the time zone of Central Europe – there are, of course, 24 time zones all around the globe – contains all of Europe west of the 15th meridian, except Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. Nobody would deem Spain and France anywhere central, geographically, though. Yet, the pre-world-war Mitteleuropa based on religious denominations was considered to contain all the nations of a more or less balanced mix of a Catholic and Protestant population, the Eastern borders defined by Orthodox churches and Islam. Geographically, there also isn’t any clear picture. The river Rhine might be a western border, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea a northern one, the Central Alps and the river Danube to the south, and the river Vistula and the Carpathian Mountains in the east – but these are only vague boundaries, as well. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)
The way Mitteleuropa is used in the English language, though, differs a bit. Here it refers to the pan-Germanic idea of the German Empire and its catastrophic adoption by the Nazi Reich. The concept was all about a political, military, and economical bloc of different nations under German rule to strategically counter the powers of the United States, Russia, the British Empire, and France. Later on, during World War I, the pan-Germanic idea was turned into the idea of a Central European Economic Union by leading German politicians. Back then, the idea backfired. Obviously, annexation is NOT the way to create lasting alliances. And equally obvious is that today’s EEC creates another slightly different location of a Mitteleuropa.
There is also a cultural Mitteleuropa, of course. This includes the German-speaking nations as well as Poland, Czechia, and Hungary to the east. Here we are talking music, art, and literature as to stylistic patterns and developments. Clearly, in this case, Mitteleuropa is defined by the old Hapsburg Empire.
In the end, we are dealing with an expression that is highly depending on its contextual use. Which shows that if we try to gain more mutual understanding as to a definition, we have to be more precise in our descriptions.
