Czechs and Poles in Cieszyn Silesia 1945–1949
Author:
Jiří Friedl
Year of publication:
2012
Publisher:
Historický ústav / Conditio humana
ISBN:
978-80-7286-204-7; 978-80-905323-0-4
This book attempts to demonstrate that within the Czech lands – specifically, in Cieszyn Silesia – there lived (and still live today) members of the Polish ethnic group who were, in a similar manner to the Sudeten Germans, accused of disloyalty to the prewar Czechoslovakia. However, disposing of them in the same way the Germanspeaking inhabitants were eliminated was not possible for a great many reasons. In this work readers will find not only a detailed explanation of the reasons why the Poles ultimately remained in Czechoslovakia, but also an analysis of all the important events that together gave shape to relations between Czechs and Poles in Cieszyn Silesia. The interpretation also takes into account the influence of relations between both groups of inhabitants upon the domestic political situation and the contending parties within the National Front. It is possible to state that the question of the Cieszyn Silesian Poles projected itself significantly onto other political struggles, especially between the Communists and the National Socialists.
