Re-emigration and repatriation Czechs and Slovaks after WW I.
Reemigrace a repatriace Čechů a Slováků po první světové válce
Re-emigration and repatriation Czechs and Slovaks after WW I.
Jaroslav Vaculík
The principal cause of the re-emigration of Czechs and Slovaks living abroad after the WWI were economic reasons and an endeavour to preserve or improve their economic standing, as was the case for the re-emigration after 1945. Those re-emigrating were largely from defeated countries that found themselves in a difficult economic situation, such s Austria and Germany. In the case of Russia, the wartime conditions during the Civil War and the political terror of the Bolsheviks were added to the ruinous economic conditions. An interesting phenomenon is the large number of re-emigrants from the USA. The re-emigration also included the descendents of the religion emigrants of the 18th century from Zelów in Poland, Volhynia and Prussian Silesia. There was little interest in re-emigration from Czechs and Slovaks living in south-east Europe – in Croatia, Serbian and Romanian Banat and Bulgaria. The repatriation of people of Czech and Slovak nationality who had found themselves abroad as the result of wartime events – former members of the Austro-Hungarian army who became prisoners of war or joined the Czechoslovak Legion.
Masaryk University, Faculty of Education
112 p., 148 x 210 mm, paperback. ISBN 978-80-210-6982-4