bwho was not a member of the family might be a guest, a wel-
bcome visitor, or even a tolerated resident—but he was not a citizen:
bthe land was not his.
bIt was only relatively recently that a new concept emerged,
bthe nation-state of modern times. Suddenly it was not member-
bship in the nation that gave a person rights and ownership, but
bresidency and domicile in the land. Whereas once the one nation-
bowner gave its name to the land, now the land gave its name to
bthe residents thereon, regardless of their lack of common racial,
breligious, cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or historical ties. And so,
bthe Austro-Hungarian Empire proudly boasted of its Austro-
bHungarian “citizens,” Serbs, Croats, Poles, Rumanians, Hun-
bgarians, Czechs. The boasting came to a loud end with the as-
bsassination of the Austrian archduke by “citizens” who pre-
bferred to be independent Slavs, or Poles in a sovereign Poland,
bRumanians in a Rumania, and Hungarians in a Hungary.
bWorld War I marked the beginning of the end of the belief
bthat a multinational state could exist without violence, blood,
band force. “Self-determination,” a modern-day attempt to re-
bturn to the original nation-state, became the watchword. Wilson
band the Allies carved out whole new countries from old ones,
bwith the hope of having each nation live under its vineyard and
bfig tree, in its own sovereign state where it could set its own
bdestiny. It was an admission of the inevitable conflict between
btwo peoples sharing the same land.
bSince state after state remained with sizable national mi-
bnorities, it was decided to write into the peace treaties that fol-
blowed the war “national minorities guarantees,” and a whole
bbody of international law arose to protect those nations within
blarger nations. Of course, they failed. Bloody communal conflict
band constant tension were the lot of Central and Eastern Europe
bbetween the two world wars. Indeed, it was the presence of siz-
bable numbers of ethnic Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia
bthat afforded Hitler the opportunity to aid his “oppressed” com-
bpatriots, attack those two nations, and precipitate World War II
band the Holocaust.
bFollowing the war, universalists and federalists of various
bkinds arose. Throughout Europe, nationalism appeared to be
bunder attack and the call for a European community of nations
bwas led by Jean Monnet, who, along with many others, pre-
b