Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)

The German-speaking population in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic, 23.6% of the population at the 1921 census, usually refers to the Sudeten Germans, although there were other German ethno-linguistic enclaves elsewhere in Czechoslovakia (e.g. Hauerland or Zips) inhabited by Carpathian Germans (including Zipser Germans or Zipser Saxons), and among the German-speaking urban dwellers there were ethnic Germans and/or Austrians as well as German-speaking Jews. 14% of the Czechoslovak Jews considered themselves Germans in the 1921 census, but a much higher percentage declared German as their colloquial tongue during the last censuses under the Austro-Hungarian Empire.Czechoslovakia, Encyclopaedia Judaica

Carpathian Germans and Sudeten Germans The terms Carpathian Germans and Sudeten Germans are relatively recent and were not traditionally used in the past. The former was coined by historian and ethnologue in the early 20th century. The latter was coined in 1904 by journalist and politician and was used mostly after 1919.

Historical settlements There were several subregions and towns with German-speaking absolute or relative majorities in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic.

Table. 1921 ethnonational censusSlovenský náučný slovník, I. zväzok, Bratislava-Český Těšín, 1932 Regions German-speaking population % Total population Bohemia

Moravia

Silesia

Slovakia

Carpathian Ruthenia

Czechoslovak Republic

In Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic), there were German Bohemians (Deutschböhmen, Čeští Němci) and German Moravians (Deutschmährer, Moravští Němci), as well as German Silesians, in e.g. the Hlučín Region (part of Czech Silesia but formerly part of the Austrian Silesia Province before Seven Years' War in 1756).

In Slovakia there were two German-speaking enclaves in Hauerland and Spiš. In the Austro-Hungarian Szepes County (Spiš), there were according to censuses 35% Germans in 1869, 25% in 1900 and 1910. There was also a relative German-language majority in the border city of Pressburg/Bratislava: 59.9% at the 1890 census, 41.9% in 1910, 36% in 1919, 28.1 in 1930, 20% in 1940.

There were also two linguistic enclaves in Subcarpathian Ruthenia (present-day Ukraine).

German-speaking urban Jews Table. Declared Nationality of Jews in Czechoslovakia Ethnonationality 1921,% 1930,% Jewish 53.62 57.20 Czechoslovak 21.84 24.52 German 14.26 12.28 Hungarian 8.45 4.71 Others 1.83 1.29 In addition, there was a sizeable German-speaking urban Jewish minority, for instance the writers Franz Kafka, Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, and Jewish politicians were elected as deputies, and even as leaders of German minority parties such as Ludwig Czech and Siegfried Taub in the German Social Democratic Workers Party in the Czechoslovak Republic or Bruno Kafka (second cousin of Franz Kafka) in the .Deutsche Demokratische Freiheitspartei, Německá demokratická svobodomyslná strana

German-language education in Czechoslovakia

Bohemia German University in Prague (Karl-Ferdinands-Universität), first bilingual, from 1882 to 1945 two separate universities, a German-language and a Czech-language one German Polytechnic University in Prague, first bilingual, from 1869 to 1945 two separate institutes, a German-language and a Czech-language one, from 1874 on different locations

Subcarpathian Ruthenia In 1936, there were 24 German-language schools in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, grouping 2,021 students.

German-language press in Czechoslovakia

in Bohemia Prager Tagblatt (1876-1939) Prager Presse (1921-1939) semi-official newspaperAndrea Orzoff, Battle for the castle: the myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe, 1914-1948, Oxford University Press, 2000 Selbstwehr Jüdische Volksstimme

in Slovakia Pressburger Zeitung, then Neue Pressburger Zeitung (1784-1945) (sk) Westungarischer Grenzbote (1872-1918), then Grenzbote (1919-1945) (eo) Jüdische Volkszeitung Israelitisches Familienblatt Jüdische Presse

in Carpathian Ruthenia Jüdische Stimme

German-language personalities in Czechoslovakia

Literature and journalism

Max Brod Franz Kafka Egon Erwin Kisch František R. Kraus Leo Perutz Johannes Urzidil Felix Weltsch Franz Werfel

Science

Johann Böhm, chemist Pavel Eisner, linguist Anton Gindely, historian František Graus, historian Alfred Kohn, histologist Karl Kreibich, dermatologist Gustav Karl Laube (geologist and paleontologist Arthur Mahler, archeologist Friedrich Reinitzer, chemist

Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)

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