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The British Soldier and The Bohemian Corporal


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The word "Bohemian" was meant as an insult. A comment on the time he spent in Vienna before the first war. Not as a reference to where he lived once he'd moved to Germany.

Sorry, I don't want to be picky. But Bohemia is the region around Prague. Basically nowadays Czech Republic... ?

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Sorry, I don't want to be picky. But Bohemia is the region around Prague. Basically nowadays Czech Republic... ?

I know where Bohemia is, next door to Moravia. And, of course, Elizabeth Stuart was Queen of Bohemia. But, from the late 18th Century up into the 20th, the word "Bohemian" applied to people who lived a certain lifestyle, poets, artists, romantic dreamers etc  Often being used to describe the residents of Paris' Latin Quarter, London's Soho, New York's Greenwich Village etc. Prussian Conservatives mockingly called Hitler "The Bohemian Corporal" cuz of his repeated failure to pass his entrance exams to the Vienna Academy.

Edited by Warts 'n' all
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I know where Bohemia is, next door to Moravia. And, of course, Elizabeth Stuart was Queen of Bohemia. But, from the late 18th Century up into the 20th, the word "Bohemian" applied to people who lived a certain lifestyle, poets, artists, romantic dreamers etc  Often being used to describe the residents of Paris' Latin Quarter, London's Soho, New York's Greenwich Village etc. Prussian Conservatives mockingly called Hitler "The Bohemian Corporal" cuz of his repeated failure to pass his entrance exams to the Vienna Academy.

Yep,I thought you would.

After posting yesterday, I investigated a little further (perhaps I should have done so in a first place) and read, that Hindenburg called him "Bohemian Corporal", because he thought Hitler was born in Braunau (Broumov), Bohemia while he really was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

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I just had the chance to read it now, thanks for the link. Never knew this story. Sometimes, reality really is stranger than fiction.

I'm very fascinated by alternative history. That good Brit was haunted that he had shown decency to a monster, but who knows what kind of world we would live in today if he had pulled the trigger... history might have taken an even worse turn for all we know.

Edited by Bulletpoint
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