Czech Republic
The majority of the 10.3 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic
are ethnically and linguistically Czech (94%). Other ethnic groups
include Germans, Roma, Japanese, and Poles. Laws establishing
religious freedom were passed shortly after the revolution of 1989,
lifting oppressive regulations enacted by the former communist
regime. Major denominations and their estimated percentage
populations are Roman Catholic (39%) and Protestant (3%). A large
percentage of the Czech population claim to be atheists (40%), and
16% describe themselves as uncertain. The Jewish community numbers a
few thousand today; a synagogue in Prague memorializes the names of
more than 80,000 Czechoslovak Jews who perished in World War II. |
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The Czech Republic was the western part of the Czech and Slovak
Federal Republic. Formed into a common state after World War I
(October 28, 1918), the Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks remained
united for almost 75 years. On January 1, 1993, the two republics
split to form two separate states.
The Czechs lost their national independence to the Hapsburgs Empire
in 1620 at the Battle of White Mountain and for the next 300 years
were ruled by the Austrian Monarchy. With the collapse of the
monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent country of
Czechoslovakia was formed, encouraged by, among others, U.S.
President Woodrow Wilson.
Despite cultural differences, the Slovaks shared with the Czechs
similar aspirations for independence from the Hapsburg state and
voluntarily united with the Czechs. For historical reasons, Slovaks
were not at the same level of economic and technological development
as the Czechs, but the freedom and opportunity found in
Czechoslovakia enabled them to make strides toward overcoming these
inequalities. However, the gap never was fully bridged, and the
discrepancy played a continuing role throughout the 75 years of the
union.
Although Czechoslovakia was the only east European country to remain
a parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1938, it was plagued with
minority problems, the most important of which concerned the
country's large German population. Constituting more than 22% of the
interwar state's population and largely concentrated in the Bohemian
and Moravian border regions (the Sudetenland), members of this
minority, including some who were sympathetic to Nazi Germany,
undermined the new Czechoslovak state. Internal and external
pressures culminated in September 1938, when France and the United
Kingdom yielded to Nazi pressures at Munich and agreed to force
Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
Fulfilling Hitler's aggressive designs on all of Czechoslovakia,
Germany invaded what remained of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939,
establishing a German "protectorate." By this time, Slovakia had
already declared independence and had become a puppet state of the
Germans. Hitler's occupation of the Czech lands was a clear betrayal
of the Munich Pact and still stirs passions in modern-day Czech
society, but at the time it was met by muted resistance; the brunt
of Nazi aggression was felt by Czech Jews and other minorities who
were rounded up and deported to concentration camps in systematic
waves. Over 100,000 Jews lived in the Czech lands in 1939. Only
several thousand remained or returned after the Holocaust in 1945.
At the close of World War II, Soviet troops overran all of Slovakia,
Moravia, and much of Bohemia, including Prague. In May 1945, U.S.
forces liberated the city of Plzen and most of western Bohemia. A
civilian uprising against the German garrison took place in Prague
in May 1945. Following Germany's surrender, some 2.9 million ethnic
Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia with Allied approval under
the Benes Decrees.
Reunited after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks set national
elections for the spring of 1946. The democratic elements, led by
President Eduard Benes, hoped the Soviet Union would allow
Czechoslovakia the freedom to choose its own form of government and
aspired to a Czechoslovakia that would act as a bridge between East
and West. The Czechoslovak Communist Party, which won 38% of the
vote, held most of the key positions in the government and gradually
managed to neutralize or silence the anti-communist forces. Although
the communist-led government initially intended to participate in
the Marshall Plan, it was forced by Moscow to back out. Under the
cover of superficial legality, the Communist Party seized power in
February 1948.
After extensive purges modeled on the Stalinist pattern in other
east European states, the Communist Party tried 14 of its former
leaders in November 1952 and sentenced 11 to death. For more than a
decade thereafter, the Czechoslovak communist political structure
was characterized by the orthodoxy of the leadership of party chief
Antonin Novotny. |
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