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All right, we know that Czechoslovakia, the new democratic republic on the map of Europe, was established in 1918. Slovaks wanted to join the Czechs in their new beginnings to break away from Austria-Hungary and create their own semi-private state. Who saved the situation? In one of his Fourteen Points, the US president Woodrow Wilson demanded that all of the nationalities of the defeted empire (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Austrians, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs) have “freest opportunity to autonomous development“. (more…)

Damian subscribed to this blog for two reasons: 1/ he has a Czech heritage and 2/ he received an assignment at school to write en essay about ethnic group discrimination. Hence his decision on what particular topic to write about couldn’t be easier: discrimination (or no discrimination?) of Czechs. Enjoy.

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination: Czechs

My family’s origin is the region of Central Europe now known as The Czech Republic and Slovakia; however, from 1920 to 1992 these two countries were joined together as one nation called Czechoslovakia. Before then, the region underwent several changes in name as the result of wars and empirical conquests left the region under the rule of Austria, Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire, to name a few. However the main regions historically are Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (Czechoslovak, 2008 p.1.) To avoid confusion, most individuals with genealogical ties to the region can claim Czech heritage, but might chose to further identify with any of the three regions for more clarification, with the best way to do this by finding out what town or geographical part of the region ancestors come from.
In terms of people from this region immigrating to America, it is difficult to finalize a total as census records before 1920 when census and government records of Czech immigrant origins and birth places included Austria, Austria-Hungary or Bohemia, with Slovakia and Moravia rarely found on such records (Kukral, 2004.) (more…)

Many of the Czech immigrants who came to Canada between 1948 - 1951 could find no work. That is why various Czech-owned businesses such as the Bata Shoe, Hamilton Carhart, the Czechoslovak National Alliance, Opal Manufacturing , Staruba Industrial Corporation, Hesky Flax Products and others offered these “brothers” a new employment opportunities.

Immigrants who came after the Prague Spring in 1968 faced similar problems. This time, however, the government was ready for them: it offered language classes free of charge as well as the already existing large Czech community to make the whole transition process easier. That year Canada welcomed about 21, 000 Czechs and Slovaks. (more…)

The classroom environment in the Czech Republic has been changing. Not only the children hide Intendos (and other electronic games) under the school desk instead of a sling-shot, but also the physical punishment has vanished. Schooling was very important to the Czechs from the start. Until the beginning of the Thirty-year war (1618-1648) the quality of education was very high. Perhaps the biggest reformer of the Czech education system was Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a pastor, teacher and a writer. He came up with the idea of so-called Universal education which means that everyone has the right to get educated. He also disagreed with any form of physical punishment. Comenius’ loyalty to teaching - and not only in the Czech Republic alone - earned him the nickname of the “Teacher of the Nations“. After the Thirty-year war was over, the quality of education in Czech went down the drain. It became so bad that many children didn’t even know how to read and write! (more…)

When the W.W.I ended the Czech immigration became less attractive because the new Czechoslovak Republic had a stable and industrialized economy. Job offers become widely available and the standard of living improved drastically. However the agricultural field remained attractive. Lot of Czech farmers came to Canada to develop the Sugar Beet industry and that is how new Czech communities in southern Alberta were formed (especially in Lethbridge and Chatham).

The inner-war immigration changed the distribution of Czechs in Canada, where more of them settled in urban communities instead of the country. The biggest communities were created in Ontario and Quebec, where Montreal (3,700 Czechs in 1920′) and Toronto (2,500 in 1920′) became primary Czech centres. Other new Czech “homes” became cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, Ottawa and Calgary). In the year 1931 the census counted around 30,000 Czechoslovakians in Canada. (more…)

The 2000 United States census counted 1,262,527 people of Czech ethnicity (0.4% of the US population), 797,764 of Slovak ethnicity (0.3%), and 441,401 persons that listed themselves as Czechoslovakian (0.2% of US population). That’s over 2.5 million of our brothers and sisters living the US - not bad! The biggest US ethnic group are the Germans (15.2%), followed by the Irish (10.8%) and the English (8.7%).

CZ: Ve Spojenych Statech zije pres vice nez 2,5 milionu Cechu a Slovaku (2000), coz je 0.9% celkove Americke populace; tak to neni spatne! Nejvetsi etnickou skupinou jsou Nemci, pote Irove a Anglicane.

These are the largest Czech/Czechoslovak/Slovak communities in the US: (more…)

Prior to the first major immigration wave (1880) the majority of Czechs settled in the US. From there some of them moved to western Canada which was known for its vast and cheap land. ” The Canadian government, in conjunction with the Canadian Pacific Railway, sponsored a number of similar colonization schemes, promising that upon arrival the immigrant could begin ploughing on a selected piece of land. These colonization schemes usually involved partial payment for transport overseas and by rail across the continent, and offered attractive, but not obligatory, land-purchase plans. These did not always work out, and many immigrants had to work on others’ farms or in the railway and mining industries before they received their own land. As a result, many never became farmers but stayed in their first jobs. In many cases, these migrants adapted to their new life and decided to stay in Canada instead of returning home. Many then arranged for their wives and children to join them” .

Czech immigration to Canada can be devided into 4 phases:

(more…)

So, why did Czechoslovakia really split up?

• The arguments had started already back in 1989, right after the Velvet revolution in early November. Both sides were bickering about what should the future federation look like: “What it’s going to be called?” “Who is going to get “burned” on this whole deal? The Czechs or the Slovaks?”
• The very decisive moment came during the elections in 1992; the Czechs elected ODS as their major leading political party, where as majority of Slovaks voted for the HZDS. Both leaders of the party, Mr. Klaus (ODS) and Mr. Meciar (HZDS) just didn’t seem to agree on anything regarding the future federation.
• The negative atmosphere was also thickened by the fact that during the presidential elections in 1992 the Slovakian parliament decided not to support Vaclav Havel as a future president. (more…)
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Do you wonder where your family came from? Are you looking for your ancestors who long time ago disappeared somewhere abroad? If that is your case and you are a beginner regarding the genealogy issues you can turn to the Czech Genealogy Institute (Ceska genealogicka a heradlicka spolecnost; www.genealogie.cz ) for help. You can also become a member. As a member you will be receiving a free Genealogy newsletter (4x/year), you can join various classes to teach you how to start your search (next class begins Sept.20th , in Prague Stodulky) and have access to various exhibitions. Martin Slaboch, an institute member, says:”If you get into genealogy, it will become your lifetime hobby “. When asked how should people start looking for their ancestors, Martin advises first to:

• talk to the oldest living relatives of yours and ask them where their grandparents came from
• search for old photos at home and look at the their back side to see if there is any other written info
• search for marriage/death certificates

Then you are ready to search in the “real” archives! (more…)

Czechs immigrating to America of course brought their traditional dances and music with them along with the more sophisticated forms of art such as classical music and Czech drama. Music had always played one of the most important roles in the life of Czechs, hence the saying “Co Cech, to muzikant” (Every Czech is a musician). Music styles that the Czech Americans would perform varied from polkas to hymns and church choirs, especially those belonging to Moravian brethren. The biggest popularity in America received a dance called Polka which was originally created to honor the Polish people. Who would have ever guessed that “Skoda Lasky” will be the most played Czech song of all time (in Czech and worldwide) and will also get it’s own American name, the “Beer Barrel Dance”! (Roll out the barrel…and we’ll have a barrel of fun…) Czech Americans also became quite known as performers in orchestral associations such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra or the Boston Symphony Orchestra. (more…)