Expulsion or integration: Unmixing interethnic marriage in postwar Czechoslovakia

East European Politics and Societies

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 381-410

  Frommer, Benjamin ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CLASSIFICATION; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNOLOGY; FAMILY SIZE; GERMANY; GOVERNMENT; HISTORY; HUMAN; IDEOLOGY; LEGAL ASPECT; MARRIAGE; MIGRATION; POLICY; STATISTICS; WAR;

COMMUNISM; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; ETHNIC GROUPS; FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS; GERMANY; GOVERNMENT; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; MARRIAGE; PUBLIC POLICY; WORLD WAR II;

EID: 0034370858     PISSN: 08883254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0888325400014002007     Document Type: Article

References (143)

1. The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (euphemistically referred to by contemporaries as the "Transfer") is one of the few topics in Czechoslovak history to have received considerable scholarly attention. But with the exception of two studies by Tomáš Staněk (see n.3), very little has been written on the internal social conflicts caused by the forced removal of a significant minority of the population. For general works available in English, see Radomír Luža, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations, 1933-1962 (New York: New York University Press, 1964); Joseph B. Schechtman, Postwar Population Transfers in Europe, 1945-1955 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962); Theodor Schieder, ed., The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia: A selection and translation from Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, Band IV, 1 und IV, 2, trans. G. H. de Sausmarez et al. (Bonn: Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims, 1960); Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).
2. The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (euphemistically referred to by contemporaries as the "Transfer") is one of the few topics in Czechoslovak history to have received considerable scholarly attention. But with the exception of two studies by Tomáš Staněk (see n.3), very little has been written on the internal social conflicts caused by the forced removal of a significant minority of the population. For general works available in English, see Radomír Luža, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations, 1933-1962 (New York: New York University Press, 1964); Joseph B. Schechtman, Postwar Population Transfers in Europe, 1945-1955 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962); Theodor Schieder, ed., The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia: A selection and translation from Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, Band IV, 1 und IV, 2, trans. G. H. de Sausmarez et al. (Bonn: Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims, 1960); Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).
3. The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (euphemistically referred to by contemporaries as the "Transfer") is one of the few topics in Czechoslovak history to have received considerable scholarly attention. But with the exception of two studies by Tomáš Staněk (see n.3), very little has been written on the internal social conflicts caused by the forced removal of a significant minority of the population. For general works available in English, see Radomír Luža, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations, 1933-1962 (New York: New York University Press, 1964); Joseph B. Schechtman, Postwar Population Transfers in Europe, 1945-1955 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962); Theodor Schieder, ed., The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia: A selection and translation from Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, Band IV, 1 und IV, 2, trans. G. H. de Sausmarez et al. (Bonn: Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims, 1960); Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).
4. The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (euphemistically referred to by contemporaries as the "Transfer") is one of the few topics in Czechoslovak history to have received considerable scholarly attention. But with the exception of two studies by Tomáš Staněk (see n.3), very little has been written on the internal social conflicts caused by the forced removal of a significant minority of the population. For general works available in English, see Radomír Luža, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations, 1933-1962 (New York: New York University Press, 1964); Joseph B. Schechtman, Postwar Population Transfers in Europe, 1945-1955 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962); Theodor Schieder, ed., The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia: A selection and translation from Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, Band IV, 1 und IV, 2, trans. G. H. de Sausmarez et al. (Bonn: Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims, 1960); Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).
5. "Na vinici Panny Marie, "Svobodné noviny, 1 July 1945, 1. Soon after writing this editorial Eduard Bass resigned and was replaced by Ferdinand Peroutka.
6. Tomáš Staněk, Odsun Němců z Československa 1945-1947 (Prague: Naše Vojsko, 1991), 326-27; Tomáš Staněk, Německá menšina v českých zemích 1948-1989 (Prague: Institut pro středoevropskou kulturu a politku, 1993), 32. It is highly possible that these statistics underestimate the frequency of mixed marriage. After the war the Czechoslovak government had a vested interest in limiting the scope of the problem, and mixed-marriage families had a personal stake in being recorded as Czechs.
7. Tomáš Staněk, Odsun Němců z Československa 1945-1947 (Prague: Naše Vojsko, 1991), 326-27; Tomáš Staněk, Německá menšina v českých zemích 1948-1989 (Prague: Institut pro středoevropskou kulturu a politku, 1993), 32. It is highly possible that these statistics underestimate the frequency of mixed marriage. After the war the Czechoslovak government had a vested interest in limiting the scope of the problem, and mixed-marriage families had a personal stake in being recorded as Czechs.
8. Dnešek 1:26 (19 September 1946): 414.
9. Although Karel Kaplan argues that there was no censorship in postwar Czechoslovakia, he notes elsewhere that certain areas were declared off-limits by the government; for example, criticism of the president, the nationalization of industry, and the country's alliance with the Soviet Union. Most important, the government limited the number of newspapers and required that each be formally related to an authorized organization or political party. Even Svobodné noviny, which maintained an independent line, was officially the organ of the Union of Cultural Organizations. If anything, these restraints make criticism of the government's treatment of mixed marriages all the more significant. Karel Kaplan, "Cenzura 1945-1953, "Sešity 22 (1994): 8; Karel Kaplan, Nekrvavá revoluce (Prague: Mladá fronta Archiv, 1993), 46; see also William Diamond, Czechoslovakia Between East and West (London: Stevens and Sons Ltd., 1947), 55.
10. Although Karel Kaplan argues that there was no censorship in postwar Czechoslovakia, he notes elsewhere that certain areas were declared off-limits by the government; for example, criticism of the president, the nationalization of industry, and the country's alliance with the Soviet Union. Most important, the government limited the number of newspapers and required that each be formally related to an authorized organization or political party. Even Svobodné noviny, which maintained an independent line, was officially the organ of the Union of Cultural Organizations. If anything, these restraints make criticism of the government's treatment of mixed marriages all the more significant. Karel Kaplan, "Cenzura 1945-1953, "Sešity 22 (1994): 8; Karel Kaplan, Nekrvavá revoluce (Prague: Mladá fronta Archiv, 1993), 46; see also William Diamond, Czechoslovakia Between East and West (London: Stevens and Sons Ltd., 1947), 55.
11. Although Karel Kaplan argues that there was no censorship in postwar Czechoslovakia, he notes elsewhere that certain areas were declared off-limits by the government; for example, criticism of the president, the nationalization of industry, and the country's alliance with the Soviet Union. Most important, the government limited the number of newspapers and required that each be formally related to an authorized organization or political party. Even Svobodné noviny, which maintained an independent line, was officially the organ of the Union of Cultural Organizations. If anything, these restraints make criticism of the government's treatment of mixed marriages all the more significant. Karel Kaplan, "Cenzura 1945-1953, "Sešity 22 (1994): 8; Karel Kaplan, Nekrvavá revoluce (Prague: Mladá fronta Archiv, 1993), 46; see also William Diamond, Czechoslovakia Between East and West (London: Stevens and Sons Ltd., 1947), 55.
12. Eva (Hahn) Hartmannová, "'My' a 'oni': hledání české národní identity na stránkách Dneška z roku 1946, "in Karel Jech, ed., Stránkami soudobých dějin: Sborník statí k pětašedesátinám historika Karla Kaplana (Prague: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny, 1993), 103.
13. Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 19.
14. For an abbreviated version of this interpretation, see Radomír Luža, "Czechoslovakia between Democracy and Communism, "in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomír Luža, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973), 387-415.
15. The National Socialist party (Československá strana národně socialisticka) was a non-Marxist, social-democratic party which, though ultra-nationalist, was in no way affiliated with its German namesake. The Czechoslovak People's party [Čakoslovenská strana lidová] was a moderate Catholic movement that, in the new political atmosphere, found itself on the right.
16. Fierlinger was, at the time, the head of the Social Democratic party and the country's premier. Before, during, and after February 1948 he played a critical role in facilitating the communist seizure and consolidation of power, but throughout he maintained a more liberal attitude towards the Germans than most of his colleagues to the left or right. "Předseda vlády o smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 19 March 1946, 2. Far from the sympathy expressed by other members of the People's party, the parliamentarian Jaroslav Řehulka, declared, "a Czech or Slovak woman, who earlier did not think over her marriage to a German chauvinist, must now face the consequences." Těsnopísecké zprávy prozatímního Národního shromáždění republiky Československa, 28th mtg., 12 February 1946, 11; Lidová demokracie, 13 February 1946, 2.
17. Fierlinger was, at the time, the head of the Social Democratic party and the country's premier. Before, during, and after February 1948 he played a critical role in facilitating the communist seizure and consolidation of power, but throughout he maintained a more liberal attitude towards the Germans than most of his colleagues to the left or right. "Předseda vlády o smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 19 March 1946, 2. Far from the sympathy expressed by other members of the People's party, the parliamentarian Jaroslav Řehulka, declared, "a Czech or Slovak woman, who earlier did not think over her marriage to a German chauvinist, must now face the consequences." Těsnopísecké zprávy prozatímního Národního shromáždění republiky Československa, 28th mtg., 12 February 1946, 11; Lidová demokracie, 13 February 1946, 2.
18. Fierlinger was, at the time, the head of the Social Democratic party and the country's premier. Before, during, and after February 1948 he played a critical role in facilitating the communist seizure and consolidation of power, but throughout he maintained a more liberal attitude towards the Germans than most of his colleagues to the left or right. "Předseda vlády o smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 19 March 1946, 2. Far from the sympathy expressed by other members of the People's party, the parliamentarian Jaroslav Řehulka, declared, "a Czech or Slovak woman, who earlier did not think over her marriage to a German chauvinist, must now face the consequences." Těsnopísecké zprávy prozatímního Národního shromáždění republiky Československa, 28th mtg., 12 February 1946, 11; Lidová demokracie, 13 February 1946, 2.
19. The Americans and British opposed attempts to expel the Magyars and, although Stalin apparently gave his blessing, Soviet military authorities refused to accept deportees into occupied Hungary. Czechoslovakia only achieved an agreement to "exchange" its Magyars for Hungary's Slovaks. In the end, through flight, expulsion, and population exchange, 160, 000 of Czechoslovakia's 700, 000 Magyars left the country. Kaplan, Nekrvavá, 37-39; Ludvík Němec, "Solution of the Minorities Problem, "in Mamatey and Luža, eds., History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 422-24.
20. The Americans and British opposed attempts to expel the Magyars and, although Stalin apparently gave his blessing, Soviet military authorities refused to accept deportees into occupied Hungary. Czechoslovakia only achieved an agreement to "exchange" its Magyars for Hungary's Slovaks. In the end, through flight, expulsion, and population exchange, 160, 000 of Czechoslovakia's 700, 000 Magyars left the country. Kaplan, Nekrvavá, 37-39; Ludvík Němec, "Solution of the Minorities Problem, "in Mamatey and Luža, eds., History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 422-24.
21. Josef Šebestík and Zdeněk Lukeš, eds., Prěhled prědpisů o Němcích a osobách považovaných za Němce (Prague: Státní tiskárna, 1946), 17.
22. Vojtech Mastny, The Czechs under Nazi Rule: The failure of National Resistance, 1939-1942 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), 134-36.
23. Josef Mucha and Karel Petrželka, O některých současných problemech národnostně smíseny̌ch manželství (Prague: Svoboda, 1946), 4-6. For non-Jews who satisfied racial criteria, the Nazis promoted a policy of assimilation. According to a 1939 decree, anyone in the Protectorate who declared German nationality and could speak or was educated in German was to be considered German. Moreover, Czechs who volunteered for and were accepted into the Wehrmacht were naturalized. Gerhard Jacoby, Racial State: The German Nationalities Policy in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (New York: Institute of Jewish Affairs of the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress, 1944), 80-82.
24. Josef Mucha and Karel Petrželka, O některých současných problemech národnostně smíseny̌ch manželství (Prague: Svoboda, 1946), 4-6. For non-Jews who satisfied racial criteria, the Nazis promoted a policy of assimilation. According to a 1939 decree, anyone in the Protectorate who declared German nationality and could speak or was educated in German was to be considered German. Moreover, Czechs who volunteered for and were accepted into the Wehrmacht were naturalized. Gerhard Jacoby, Racial State: The German Nationalities Policy in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (New York: Institute of Jewish Affairs of the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress, 1944), 80-82.
25. Karel Kaplan, Poválečné Československo: Národy a hranice (Munich: Národní Politika, 1985), 136.
26. Úřad předsednictva vlády [Office of the government presidium (ÚPV)], II/2 no. 4775-11-1051/46, Státní ústřední archiv [State Central Archive (SÚA)], Prague, fond (f.) ÚPV-běž., karton (k.) 1032, signatura (sign.) 1364/2.
27. "Seznam osob zajištěných … ve věznicí okresního soudu v Čáslavi ve věci týkající se kolaborantů a zradců, "Státní okresní archiv [State District Archive], Kutná Hora, f. Okresní národní výbor [District National Committee] Čáslav, k. 75.
28. Vladimír Verner, "Státní občanství podle ústavního dekretu Presidenta republiky ze dne 2. srpna 1945, č. 33 Sb., "in Právní prakse 9:1 (1946): 161. The logic was deceptively simple: during the war the Germans had acquired Reich citizenship and therefore should be repatriated after the war to their own country, Germany. The government could claim, after all, that it was only fulfilling the Germans' wish to go Heim ins Reich.
29. This number corresponds roughly to one of every twenty-five individuals who declared themselves "Czech" on the 1930 census. "Zápis 36. schůze druhé vlády, "1 March 1946, SÚA, f. 100/24 (archivní jednotek (aj.) 1494), svazek (sv.) 140.
30. The guiding principle of the old citizenship law, the "doctrine of family unity, "privileged a man over his wife and children, whose legal status was dependent upon his. Despite a campaign by Czech feminists and several draft laws, interwar Czechoslovakia never reformed the citizenship statutes it inherited from the Habsburg monarchy. The constitutional establishment of an end to gender privilege and the achievement of female suffrage notwithstanding, citizenship law was one of several areas where women continued to face legal discrimination. In fact, Czechoslovakia's failure to reform its code meant that by the end of the interwar period it was one of only nine countries to mandate the abrogation of a woman's citizenship when her husband was naturalized in another state. See Melissa Feinberg, "The Privileges of Sex: Gender and Democracy in the Czech Lands, 1918-1945" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 2000).
31. Italics added. Karel Jech and Karel Kaplan, eds., Dekrety prezidenta republiky 1940-1945: Dokumenty (Brno: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny, 1995), 345-46.
32. "Smíšené manželství, "Svobodné slovo, 30 October 1945, 1.
33. Antonín Boháč, "Češky Němkami?" Svobodné slovo, 13 December 1945. SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
34. Národní jednota Severočeské (18 December 1945), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
35. After the war, nationality was determined according to Decree no. 5/1945 which nullified material transactions conducted during the occupation and confiscated the property of "unreliables." Jech, Dekrety, 217.
36. An Interior Ministry official commented, "In our legal code we have no definition for Czech nationality" (Josef Hůrský, Zjišt'ování národnosti [Prague: Československý ústav zahraniční, 1947], 64-66).
37. Even the independent weekly Dnešek, which otherwise promoted the cause of the inter-married, stressed, "In the interest of clarity the editors consider it their responsibility to point out that they distinguish between the marriages of Czech women to German men before 1939 and those consecrated after 1939. To the extent that the editors permit a debate [on the issue], it is only concerned with the former" (Dnešek 1:38 [12 December 1946]: 608).
38. Mucha, O některých, 14-15.
39. "Mlčelivé trpitelky, "Dnešek 1:10 (30 May 1946): 148.
40. "Co bude se smíšenými manželstvími?" Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1; "Ještě smíšená manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 6 November 1945, 1-2; "Pořádek do věci smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 25 November 1945, 1-2.
41. "Co bude se smíšenými manželstvími?" Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1; "Ještě smíšená manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 6 November 1945, 1-2; "Pořádek do věci smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 25 November 1945, 1-2.
42. "Co bude se smíšenými manželstvími?" Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1; "Ještě smíšená manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 6 November 1945, 1-2; "Pořádek do věci smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 25 November 1945, 1-2.
43. Staněk, Odsun, 167.
44. Lidová demokracie was the third largest daily newspaper with an average sale of 185, 000 copies per day. Among the other newspapers quoted here, the communist Rudé právo (Red right) sold approximately 500, 000 copies per day, the National Socialist Svobodné slovo (Free word) 300, 000, and the nonaligned Svobodné noviny (Free news) 68, 000. All were published in Prague. Karel F. Zieris, "The New Czech Press, "in Newspapers and Newspapermen in Czechoslovakia (Prague: Union of Czech Journalists, 1947), 32-33.
45. "Pořádek, "Lidová demokracie, 25 November 1945, 1-2.
46. "Co bude, "Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1. The "Organized Transfer" of more than two and a quarter million Sudeten Germans via railway cars to occupied Germany lasted from January through the autumn of 1946. Kaplan, Poválečné, 153.
47. "Co bude, "Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1. The "Organized Transfer" of more than two and a quarter million Sudeten Germans via railway cars to occupied Germany lasted from January through the autumn of 1946. Kaplan, Poválečné, 153.
48. In principle Czechs were not to be expelled, but in order to be exempted Czech wives had to have retained their own citizenship. Moreover, the mixed marriage had to have been consecrated before 21 May 1938 and both partners must have been Czechoslovak citizens at that time. German wives who could fulfill the requirements outlined in Decree no. 33 were also excluded from the Transfer. Staněk, Odsun, 319.
49. "Jde o víc, "Lidová demokracie, 26 Jan. 1946, 1-2.
50. "Zápis 43. schůze 2. vlády" (19 March 1946), SÚA, f. 100/24 (aj. 1494), sv. 140. Although a 28 March 1946 directive permitted German husbands to apply for residence permits, it did not in any way resolve their permanent status. Staněk, Odsun, 321.
51. "Zápis 43. schůze 2. vlády" (19 March 1946), SÚA, f. 100/24 (aj. 1494), sv. 140. Although a 28 March 1946 directive permitted German husbands to apply for residence permits, it did not in any way resolve their permanent status. Staněk, Odsun, 321.
52. Šebeštík, Přehled, 44. This directive applied only to Germans who married Czechs before 21 May 1938. In other words, marriage after that early date, when war was by no means a certainty, was considered to be a form of collaboration.
53. "Odsun Němců, opětovné závady při výběrů osob …, "Ministerstvo Vnitra [Interior ministry (MV)] (11 June 1946), SÚA, f. MV-Nová registratura (NR), k. 2016.
54. "Směrnice o úlevách … závady, "MV no. Z/S-3624/142-31/7-1946 (6 September 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
55. "Kdo za to odpovídá?" Lidová demokracie, 28 January 1947, 1.
56. "Směrnice o úlevách … závady, "SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
57. "Odsun Němců."
58. After the 1946 elections, 78 percent of all District National Committee chairmen in the Czech provinces were Communist party members; in Bohemia the number was a staggering 89 percent. Karel Bertelmann, Vyvoj národních výborů do ústavy 9. května (1945-1948) (Prague: Československá akademie věd, 1964), "179.
59. SÚA, f. Ministerstvo spravedlnosti [Ministry of Justice (MS)], k. 1934, sv. 3.
60. Štekl, Těsnopísecké zprávy prozatímního, 28th mtg., 12 February 1946, 17.
61. "Zajistit bezpečnost státu a národního majetku, "Rudé právo, 13 February 1946, 1.
62. Nosek, Těsnopísecké zprávy prozatímního, 30th mtg., 14 February 1946, 19.
63. Even some harsh statements by Communists appear less so under scrutiny. For example, one letter to Rudé právo commented: "I don't know what sense it makes to leave several thousand of such characterless individuals here, even if they are by chance of Czech origin. We don't handle traitors with gloves." But this partisan spoke of inter-married Czechs who either adopted German nationality during the war or otherwise collaborated with the Nazis. In fact, the letter refers specifically to one Czech woman who married an SS officer - hardly a representative case. "Jak s nimi naložit?" Rudé právo, 12 July 1946, 5; Staněk, Odsun, 323.
64. Even some harsh statements by Communists appear less so under scrutiny. For example, one letter to Rudé právo commented: "I don't know what sense it makes to leave several thousand of such characterless individuals here, even if they are by chance of Czech origin. We don't handle traitors with gloves." But this partisan spoke of inter-married Czechs who either adopted German nationality during the war or otherwise collaborated with the Nazis. In fact, the letter refers specifically to one Czech woman who married an SS officer - hardly a representative case. "Jak s nimi naložit?" Rudé právo, 12 July 1946, 5; Staněk, Odsun, 323.
65. Staněk, Odsun, 323.
66. Petition letter of "Czech women - married to Germans, former Czechoslovak citizens" (30 November 1946), Archiv Akademie věd České republiky [Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (A-AVČR)], Prague, f. Zdeněk Nejedlý, veřejná činnost, k. 22.
67. "Prosba Češek, vdaných za Němce, "Dnešek 1:36 (28 November 1946): 576; "Odpověd' Češkám, provdaným za Němce, "Dnešek 1:37 (5 December 1946): 591-2.
68. "Prosba Češek, vdaných za Němce, "Dnešek 1:36 (28 November 1946): 576; "Odpověd' Češkám, provdaným za Němce, "Dnešek 1:37 (5 December 1946): 591-2.
69. Dnešek 1:38 (12 December 1946): 608; Dnešek 1:39-40 (19 December 1946): 636.
70. Dnešek 1:38 (12 December 1946): 608; Dnešek 1:39-40 (19 December 1946): 636.
71. Dnešek 1:42 (9 January 1947): 672.
72. Dnešek 1:26 (19 September 1946): 414.
73. "Co bude, "Lidová demokracie, 13 October 1945, 1. Božena Némcová was the author of Babička [Grandmother] (1854), one of the central works of Czech national literature.
74. Národní jednota Severočeské (18 December 1945), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
75. Statistická příručka Československé republiky 1948 (Prague: Státní úřad statistický, 1948), 32.
76. Sdružení hraničářů (ÚPV 47033-II-9122-II/2); Československý národní odboj, Děčín-Podmokly (24 December 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
77. "Stýkala jsem se s Němci …, "Lidová správa I:3 (30 October 1945): 10.
78. See Benjamin Frommer, "Retribution against Nazi Collaborators in Postwar Czechoslovakia" (Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1999), 193-240.
79. "Pořádek, "Lidová demokracie, 25 November 1945, 1-2.
80. "Czech women - married to Germans, "A-AVČR, f. Zd. Nejedlý, veřejna činnost, k. 22.
81. Dnešek 1:39-40 (19 December 1946): 636. For some families the pressure was too much. A legal scholar commented, "The wave of … divorce disputes between spouses, where one was a non-Aryan, which under the influence of racial statutes flooded our courts during the occupation now has its analog in the … divorce litigation between spouses, where one is Czech and the other is a German citizen" (Josef Frydrych, "Rozvod a rozluka smíšených manželství, "Právní prakse 9:3 [1945]: 225).
82. Dnešek 1:39-40 (19 December 1946): 636. For some families the pressure was too much. A legal scholar commented, "The wave of … divorce disputes between spouses, where one was a non-Aryan, which under the influence of racial statutes flooded our courts during the occupation now has its analog in the … divorce litigation between spouses, where one is Czech and the other is a German citizen" (Josef Frydrych, "Rozvod a rozluka smíšených manželství, "Právní prakse 9:3 [1945]: 225).
83. In reference to ÚPV no. 30.166-II-6157/46, SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
84. Staněk, Odsun, 328.
85. Dnešek 1:41 (2 January 1947): 656.
86. "Smíšená manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 27 September 1945, 1-2.
87. "Mlčelivé trpitelky, "Dnešek 1:10 (30 May 1946): 147-8. For a similar critique, see Svobodné slovo, 30 October 1945, 1.
88. "Mlčelivé trpitelky, "Dnešek 1:10 (30 May 1946): 147-8. For a similar critique, see Svobodné slovo, 30 October 1945, 1.
89. Dnešek 1:38 (12 December 1946): 608.
90. "Kdo za to odpovídá?" Lidová demokracie, 28 Jan. 1947, 1. See also Ladislav Gut, "Smíšené manželství, "Svobodné Slovo, 30 Oct. 1945, 1; "České ženy ze smíšených manželství, "letter to the President's office (received 16 August 1946) and "Čsl. národní odboi, "letter to Premier K. Gottwald (24 December 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
91. "Kdo za to odpovídá?" Lidová demokracie, 28 Jan. 1947, 1. See also Ladislav Gut, "Smíšené manželství, "Svobodné Slovo, 30 Oct. 1945, 1; "České ženy ze smíšených manželství, "letter to the President's office (received 16 August 1946) and "Čsl. národní odboi, "letter to Premier K. Gottwald (24 December 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
92. Dnešek 1:43 (16 January 1947): 688.
93. "Kdo za to odpovídá?" Lidová demokracie, 28 January 1947, 1.
94. Hůrský, Zjišt'ování, 67.
95. Dnešek 1:39-40 (19 December 1946): 636.
96. Dnešek 1:45 (30 January 1947): 720.
97. "Rozhovor s dítětem ze smíšeného manželství, "Dnešek 1:48 (20 February 1947): 756-7.
98. "Předseda vlády o smíšených manželství, "Lidová demokracie, 19 March 1946, 2.
99. Dnešek 1:26 (19 September 1946): 414-15; "Na vinici, "Svobodné noviny, 1 July 1945, 1. For other examples, see Hartmannová, "'My' a 'Oni, '" 102-3.
100. Dnešek 1:26 (19 September 1946): 414-15; "Na vinici, "Svobodné noviny, 1 July 1945, 1. For other examples, see Hartmannová, "'My' a 'Oni, '" 102-3.
101. Dnešek 1:26 (19 September 1946): 414-15; "Na vinici, "Svobodné noviny, 1 July 1945, 1. For other examples, see Hartmannová, "'My' a 'Oni, '" 102-3.
102. Quoted in Hůrský, Zjišt'ování, 67-68.
103. See "Musí nás býti více, "Lidová demokracie, 19 August 1945, 1; "Pro větší národ, "Svobodné slovo, 21 September 1945, 1; Minister of Health, Dr. Ad. Procházka, "Populační problem, "Lidová demokracie, 31 January 1946, 1.
104. See "Musí nás býti více, "Lidová demokracie, 19 August 1945, 1; "Pro větší národ, "Svobodné slovo, 21 September 1945, 1; Minister of Health, Dr. Ad. Procházka, "Populační problem, "Lidová demokracie, 31 January 1946, 1.
105. See "Musí nás býti více, "Lidová demokracie, 19 August 1945, 1; "Pro větší národ, "Svobodné slovo, 21 September 1945, 1; Minister of Health, Dr. Ad. Procházka, "Populační problem, "Lidová demokracie, 31 January 1946, 1.
106. "Odsun a smíšená manželství, "Cíl 2:22 (7 June 1946): 339-40.
107. Okresní národní výbor v Novém městě na Moravě (21 February 1947), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
108. Jihočeská pravda, 8 February 1946, 1-2. Quoted in Jeremy King, "Loyalty and Polity, Nation and State. A Town in Habsburg Central Europe, 1848-1948" (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1998), 166.
109. Jihočeská pravda, 8 February 1946, 1-2. Quoted in Jeremy King, "Loyalty and Polity, Nation and State. A Town in Habsburg Central Europe, 1848-1948" (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1998), 166.
110. "Napravení germanisace, "President Státního úřadu statistického no. P-203-15/4-46 (15 April 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
111. Hůrský, Zjišt'ování, 62-4. Slovak even has a word for a magyarized Slovak (mad'arón), where again contemporary Czech had no equivalent (apart from tendentious terms like "renegade" or "defector" [odrodilec]). For "Slovakizace, "see Kaplan, Poválećné, 116-8.
112. Hůrský, Zjišt'ování, 62-4. Slovak even has a word for a magyarized Slovak (mad'arón), where again contemporary Czech had no equivalent (apart from tendentious terms like "renegade" or "defector" [odrodilec]). For "Slovakizace, "see Kaplan, Poválećné, 116-8.
113. Germans over 65 years old were also exempted. Lidová demokracie, 26 January 1946, 1-2. Another article praised the Danish government which "rightly" distinguished between prewar and wartime mixed marriage. Cíl (23 August 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
114. Germans over 65 years old were also exempted. Lidová demokracie, 26 January 1946, 1-2. Another article praised the Danish government which "rightly" distinguished between prewar and wartime mixed marriage. Cíl (23 August 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
115. Italicized in the original. "Czech women - married to Germans, "A-AVČR, f. Nejedlý, veřejná činnost, k. 22.
116. Krajský sekretariat Československá strana socialní demokracie v Ustí nad Labem (1 October 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2; "Anonymní upozornění na nakládání s Češkami ve smíšením manželsvtí, "Office of the President of the Republic no. R-10.946/46, SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2. Intermarried Czech men, whose wives faced discrimination, also threatened that they would be forced to emigrate. In reference to ÚPV no. 30.166-II-6157/46, SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
117. ÚPV no. 44535-II-8701/46 (25 November 1946), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
118. "Zápis 49. schůze 3. vlády" (20 December 1946), SÚA, f. 100/24 (aj. 1494), sv. 142.
119. ÚPV no. 12555-II-3780/47 (14 April 1947); copy related to no. 11475-II-3442/47, SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
120. Staněk, Odsun, 329; Kaplan, Poválečné, 154.
121. Staněk, Odsun, 329; Kaplan, Poválečné, 154.
122. Místní rolnická komise Hoštka (11 December 1947), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2. See also the letter to the editor, "Smíšená manželství do vnitrozemí, "Rudé právo, 30 October 1947, 2.
123. Místní rolnická komise Hoštka (11 December 1947), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2. See also the letter to the editor, "Smíšená manželství do vnitrozemí, "Rudé právo, 30 October 1947, 2.
124. "Resoluce Národní fronty žen, "(12 January 1948), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
125. Staněk, Odsun, 330.
126. MV no. D-300/8532-1948-DN (7 June 1948), SÚA, f. ÚPV-běž., k. 1032, sign. 1364/2.
127. Kaplan, Poválečné, 154.
128. In November 1946 intermarried Germans represented approximately 20 percent of the 239, 911 Germans remaining in the Czech provinces. Once we subtract those Germans slated for expulsion (98, 335), more than one-third of the remaining Germans were married to Czechs. Industrial "experts" (33, 537) and their families (53, 103) constituted most of the rest. Luža., Transfer, 290; Staněk, Odsun, 326.
129. In November 1946 intermarried Germans represented approximately 20 percent of the 239, 911 Germans remaining in the Czech provinces. Once we subtract those Germans slated for expulsion (98, 335), more than one-third of the remaining Germans were married to Czechs. Industrial "experts" (33, 537) and their families (53, 103) constituted most of the rest. Luža., Transfer, 290; Staněk, Odsun, 326.
130. According to the decennial census, the number of Germans in the Czech provinces dropped from an estimated 165, 117 (1950) to 134, 143 (1961) to 80, 903 (1971) to only 58, 211 (1980). Even after the 1989 Velvet Revolution permitted citizens to freely declare their identity without fear of the consequences, the 1991 census reported only 47, 789 Germans in the Czech Republic. Kaplan, Poválečné, 153; Staněk, Německá menšina, 145-47, 171-75.
131. According to the decennial census, the number of Germans in the Czech provinces dropped from an estimated 165, 117 (1950) to 134, 143 (1961) to 80, 903 (1971) to only 58, 211 (1980). Even after the 1989 Velvet Revolution permitted citizens to freely declare their identity without fear of the consequences, the 1991 census reported only 47, 789 Germans in the Czech Republic. Kaplan, Poválečné, 153; Staněk, Německá menšina, 145-47, 171-75.
132. Quoted in Madeline A. Richard, Ethnic Groups and Marital Choices: Ethnic History and Marital Assimilation in Canada, 1871 and 1971 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1991), 20. Sociologists have long studied intermarriage as a prime indicator of assimilation, but they have concentrated mainly on marriage in immigrant societies like the United States, Canada, and Australia, or on interethnic relations between the dominant and subordinate groups in colonies or occupied territories. For current examples and references to older works, see Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, introduction, to Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, eds., Inside the Mixed Marriage: Accounts of Changing Attitudes, Patterns, and Perceptions of Cross-Cultural and Interracial Marriages (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994), 6-7; Richard, Ethnic Groups, 16-20.
133. Quoted in Madeline A. Richard, Ethnic Groups and Marital Choices: Ethnic History and Marital Assimilation in Canada, 1871 and 1971 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1991), 20. Sociologists have long studied intermarriage as a prime indicator of assimilation, but they have concentrated mainly on marriage in immigrant societies like the United States, Canada, and Australia, or on interethnic relations between the dominant and subordinate groups in colonies or occupied territories. For current examples and references to older works, see Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, introduction, to Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, eds., Inside the Mixed Marriage: Accounts of Changing Attitudes, Patterns, and Perceptions of Cross-Cultural and Interracial Marriages (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994), 6-7; Richard, Ethnic Groups, 16-20.
134. Quoted in Madeline A. Richard, Ethnic Groups and Marital Choices: Ethnic History and Marital Assimilation in Canada, 1871 and 1971 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1991), 20. Sociologists have long studied intermarriage as a prime indicator of assimilation, but they have concentrated mainly on marriage in immigrant societies like the United States, Canada, and Australia, or on interethnic relations between the dominant and subordinate groups in colonies or occupied territories. For current examples and references to older works, see Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, introduction, to Walton R. Johnson and D. Michael Warren, eds., Inside the Mixed Marriage: Accounts of Changing Attitudes, Patterns, and Perceptions of Cross-Cultural and Interracial Marriages (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994), 6-7; Richard, Ethnic Groups, 16-20.
135. Although the Nazi leaders at one time discussed the deportation of European Jewry to another continent, it is hard to imagine that Hitler ultimately would have exempted intermarried Jews, even female ones. The Czechoslovak government, by contrast, always accepted that a small German minority, above all anti-fascists, would remain in the country. Or, to phrase it otherwise, although postwar Czechoslovakia presumed guilt before innocence and placed an extraordinarily high burden of proof upon Sudeten Germans, it did not disqualify them permanently from membership in society (or in humanity, for that matter) simply by virtue of their birth. This distinction is significant because it influenced policies regarding mixed marriage and other borderline cases.
136. Nathan Stoltzfus, Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), xxv, 16.
137. Karen Breslau, "When Marriage is Sleeping with the Enemy, "Newsweek, 5 October 1992, 52; Remy Ourdan, "The End of a Dream, "World Press Review 42:1 (January 1995): 29; Raymond Bonner, "Even in Peace, a Family is Balkanized, "New York Times, 29 January 1996, A7; Nikolai Botev, "Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989, "American Sociological Review 59 (June 1994): 461-80; Snjezna Mrdjen, "La mixité en ex-Yougoslavie. Intégration ou ségrégation des nationalités?" Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 3 (1996): 103-6. Mrdjen demonstrates that in the former Yugoslavia, exogamy grew slowly from 8.6 percent of marriages m 1950 to 13.5 percent in 1990. This aggregate figure masks great regional differences, from Vojvodina, where nearly 30 percent of marriages were ethnically mixed, to Kosovo, where the percentage actually decreased until it reached a low of 4.5 percent in 1989. Other studies have estimated that four million people in the former Yugoslavia were intermarried and that, until the recent war began, nearly half of all new marriages in Sarajevo were exogamous.
138. Karen Breslau, "When Marriage is Sleeping with the Enemy, "Newsweek, 5 October 1992, 52; Remy Ourdan, "The End of a Dream, "World Press Review 42:1 (January 1995): 29; Raymond Bonner, "Even in Peace, a Family is Balkanized, "New York Times, 29 January 1996, A7; Nikolai Botev, "Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989, "American Sociological Review 59 (June 1994): 461-80; Snjezna Mrdjen, "La mixité en ex-Yougoslavie. Intégration ou ségrégation des nationalités?" Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 3 (1996): 103-6. Mrdjen demonstrates that in the former Yugoslavia, exogamy grew slowly from 8.6 percent of marriages m 1950 to 13.5 percent in 1990. This aggregate figure masks great regional differences, from Vojvodina, where nearly 30 percent of marriages were ethnically mixed, to Kosovo, where the percentage actually decreased until it reached a low of 4.5 percent in 1989. Other studies have estimated that four million people in the former Yugoslavia were intermarried and that, until the recent war began, nearly half of all new marriages in Sarajevo were exogamous.
139. Karen Breslau, "When Marriage is Sleeping with the Enemy, "Newsweek, 5 October 1992, 52; Remy Ourdan, "The End of a Dream, "World Press Review 42:1 (January 1995): 29; Raymond Bonner, "Even in Peace, a Family is Balkanized, "New York Times, 29 January 1996, A7; Nikolai Botev, "Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989, "American Sociological Review 59 (June 1994): 461-80; Snjezna Mrdjen, "La mixité en ex-Yougoslavie. Intégration ou ségrégation des nationalités?" Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 3 (1996): 103-6. Mrdjen demonstrates that in the former Yugoslavia, exogamy grew slowly from 8.6 percent of marriages m 1950 to 13.5 percent in 1990. This aggregate figure masks great regional differences, from Vojvodina, where nearly 30 percent of marriages were ethnically mixed, to Kosovo, where the percentage actually decreased until it reached a low of 4.5 percent in 1989. Other studies have estimated that four million people in the former Yugoslavia were intermarried and that, until the recent war began, nearly half of all new marriages in Sarajevo were exogamous.
140. Karen Breslau, "When Marriage is Sleeping with the Enemy, "Newsweek, 5 October 1992, 52; Remy Ourdan, "The End of a Dream, "World Press Review 42:1 (January 1995): 29; Raymond Bonner, "Even in Peace, a Family is Balkanized, "New York Times, 29 January 1996, A7; Nikolai Botev, "Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989, "American Sociological Review 59 (June 1994): 461-80; Snjezna Mrdjen, "La mixité en ex-Yougoslavie. Intégration ou ségrégation des nationalités?" Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 3 (1996): 103-6. Mrdjen demonstrates that in the former Yugoslavia, exogamy grew slowly from 8.6 percent of marriages m 1950 to 13.5 percent in 1990. This aggregate figure masks great regional differences, from Vojvodina, where nearly 30 percent of marriages were ethnically mixed, to Kosovo, where the percentage actually decreased until it reached a low of 4.5 percent in 1989. Other studies have estimated that four million people in the former Yugoslavia were intermarried and that, until the recent war began, nearly half of all new marriages in Sarajevo were exogamous.
141. Karen Breslau, "When Marriage is Sleeping with the Enemy, "Newsweek, 5 October 1992, 52; Remy Ourdan, "The End of a Dream, "World Press Review 42:1 (January 1995): 29; Raymond Bonner, "Even in Peace, a Family is Balkanized, "New York Times, 29 January 1996, A7; Nikolai Botev, "Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989, "American Sociological Review 59 (June 1994): 461-80; Snjezna Mrdjen, "La mixité en ex-Yougoslavie. Intégration ou ségrégation des nationalités?" Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 3 (1996): 103-6. Mrdjen demonstrates that in the former Yugoslavia, exogamy grew slowly from 8.6 percent of marriages m 1950 to 13.5 percent in 1990. This aggregate figure masks great regional differences, from Vojvodina, where nearly 30 percent of marriages were ethnically mixed, to Kosovo, where the percentage actually decreased until it reached a low of 4.5 percent in 1989. Other studies have estimated that four million people in the former Yugoslavia were intermarried and that, until the recent war began, nearly half of all new marriages in Sarajevo were exogamous.
142. Brubaker, Nationalism, 177 n. 82, 169-78 passim; see also Paul S. Pirie, "National Identity and Politics in Southern and Eastern Ukraine, "Europe-Asia Studies 48:7 (1996): 1084-85.
143. Brubaker, Nationalism, 177 n. 82, 169-78 passim; see also Paul S. Pirie, "National Identity and Politics in Southern and Eastern Ukraine, "Europe-Asia Studies 48:7 (1996): 1084-85.