Corvus
07-22-2012, 07:01 PM
1.1 Linguistic, geographic and economic description
Czech in Austria is currently spoken almost exclusively in Vienna (above all in districts III, V, X, XI, XV, XVII, XX and XXI), even though a hundred years ago there were important groups of Czech speakers in many localities of Lower Austria.
It is a western Slav language. Viennese Czech (see Fisher 1968) is written in conformity with the norm of the motherland, even though its popular variety reflects the particular dialects of the regions of immigration (Central Bohemia and Mahren), and include a number of interferences with German. All the Viennese Czechs master German in addition to Czech, their degree of bilingualism varying from one individual to the other (most of the time with the dominance of German).
The number of Viennese Czechs diminished after 1918 and after 1945, more than 150,000 people returned to Czechoslovakia after 1918. According to the latest census of 1991 (we do not have access to the recent surveys), there are about 10,000 people who use Czech (in comparison with 300,000 people in 1910, or 15% of the total population). However, for various reasons, official surveys and the census do not constitute adequate means for measuring the influence of minorities or of linguistic communities. At the time of the census or of the linguistic surveys there existed an atmosphere of linguistic and ethnic struggle. Taking into account the political cleavages among the Viennese Czechs which have existed for decades (notably for reasons of political evolution in Czechoslovakia since 1948), many Czech speakers refuse to recognise their Czech ethnicity. Placed in the position of having to identify themselves in the linguistic census, and thereby to make a gesture of linguistic loyalty, they choose not to associate with the values of their political adversaries.
If one adjusts the official figures by taking these considerations into account, there are at least 20,000 speakers of Czech in Vienna, that is about 2% of the total population of the capital.
1.2 General history of the region and the language
The Czechs (consisting mainly of artisans, workers and unemployed) were displaced in the 19th century by important waves in the context where the capital of the Habsburg Empire was in expansion, with some of the immigrants remaining whereas others returned to the countryside. They were employed in Vienna in the construction, industrial and service (auxiliary aids, cooks, receptionists etc.) sectors where they established their own family enterprises (the typical professions of the Viennese Czechs are as tailors, cobblers, carpenters). At the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, the Czechs in Vienna founded many associations (sporting, educational, leisure, or for the defence of their interests), and also political parties; they created theatre groups, and Czech was taught in the schools of Vienna very early. Because of the mainly proletarian background of the Czech immigrants and of the status of the Czechs under the monarchy, the Czechs enjoyed little prestige in Vienna. The Czechs of Vienna enjoyed a period of grace prior to the First World War. During the period of Austrian fascism and under the Nazi regime the Viennese Czechs, mainly the social democrats and the Communists, were victims of oppression. The first uprising against the Nazi regime derived from among the ranks of the Viennese Czechs, who experienced considerable loss of life during the Nazi period. The movement of Czechoslovak refugees after 1948 only contributed a small number of people to the Viennese Czechs, since generally the 'new' migrants could not identify with the 'older' immigrants (essentially linked to the workers movement). From the start the infrastructure of the Viennese Czechs was orientated towards Czechoslovakia. During the monarchy Slovakia pertained to the Hungarian part of the Empire and the migration towards Vienna was quantitatively less than that of the Czechs. In general, one can say that the different ethnic groups did not constitute closed groups in Vienna, but that they lived mainly as a function of their social relations and their employment conditions.
The institutional life of the Czechs in Vienna is orientated towards Czechoslovakia, reflecting its historic development. After 1945 the central Czech Committee (Cseky ustredni vybor/Tschechischer Zentralausschus) was founded within which all of the political movements were represented. After 1948 there was a division of the ethnic group. The largest part rejected co-operation with the Communist regime in Prague and sought refuge in the umbrella organisation of the Council of Czech and Slovak minority ethnic groups in Austria (Mensinová rada české a slovenské větve v Rakousku/Minderheitsrat der tschechischen und slowakischen Volksgruppe in Österreich) which united several other groups. On the other side, the umbrella group sympathetic to the Communist authorities in Prague was constituted as the Union of Czechs and Slovaks in Austria (Sdru ení Čechů a Slováků v Rakousku/Vereinigung der Tschechen und Slowaken in Österreich); in 1974 the Cultural Club of the Czechs and Slovaks (Sdru ení Čechů a Slováků v Rakousku/Vereinigung der Tschechen und Slowaken in Österreich) was founded, as a forum for emigrants from Czechoslovakia (in 1968 and subsequently). For easily understood reasons there was little collaboration between the two sides prior to 1989. It was not until the beginning of the 1990s that this relationship was stabilised.
Czech in Austria is currently spoken almost exclusively in Vienna (above all in districts III, V, X, XI, XV, XVII, XX and XXI), even though a hundred years ago there were important groups of Czech speakers in many localities of Lower Austria.
It is a western Slav language. Viennese Czech (see Fisher 1968) is written in conformity with the norm of the motherland, even though its popular variety reflects the particular dialects of the regions of immigration (Central Bohemia and Mahren), and include a number of interferences with German. All the Viennese Czechs master German in addition to Czech, their degree of bilingualism varying from one individual to the other (most of the time with the dominance of German).
The number of Viennese Czechs diminished after 1918 and after 1945, more than 150,000 people returned to Czechoslovakia after 1918. According to the latest census of 1991 (we do not have access to the recent surveys), there are about 10,000 people who use Czech (in comparison with 300,000 people in 1910, or 15% of the total population). However, for various reasons, official surveys and the census do not constitute adequate means for measuring the influence of minorities or of linguistic communities. At the time of the census or of the linguistic surveys there existed an atmosphere of linguistic and ethnic struggle. Taking into account the political cleavages among the Viennese Czechs which have existed for decades (notably for reasons of political evolution in Czechoslovakia since 1948), many Czech speakers refuse to recognise their Czech ethnicity. Placed in the position of having to identify themselves in the linguistic census, and thereby to make a gesture of linguistic loyalty, they choose not to associate with the values of their political adversaries.
If one adjusts the official figures by taking these considerations into account, there are at least 20,000 speakers of Czech in Vienna, that is about 2% of the total population of the capital.
1.2 General history of the region and the language
The Czechs (consisting mainly of artisans, workers and unemployed) were displaced in the 19th century by important waves in the context where the capital of the Habsburg Empire was in expansion, with some of the immigrants remaining whereas others returned to the countryside. They were employed in Vienna in the construction, industrial and service (auxiliary aids, cooks, receptionists etc.) sectors where they established their own family enterprises (the typical professions of the Viennese Czechs are as tailors, cobblers, carpenters). At the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, the Czechs in Vienna founded many associations (sporting, educational, leisure, or for the defence of their interests), and also political parties; they created theatre groups, and Czech was taught in the schools of Vienna very early. Because of the mainly proletarian background of the Czech immigrants and of the status of the Czechs under the monarchy, the Czechs enjoyed little prestige in Vienna. The Czechs of Vienna enjoyed a period of grace prior to the First World War. During the period of Austrian fascism and under the Nazi regime the Viennese Czechs, mainly the social democrats and the Communists, were victims of oppression. The first uprising against the Nazi regime derived from among the ranks of the Viennese Czechs, who experienced considerable loss of life during the Nazi period. The movement of Czechoslovak refugees after 1948 only contributed a small number of people to the Viennese Czechs, since generally the 'new' migrants could not identify with the 'older' immigrants (essentially linked to the workers movement). From the start the infrastructure of the Viennese Czechs was orientated towards Czechoslovakia. During the monarchy Slovakia pertained to the Hungarian part of the Empire and the migration towards Vienna was quantitatively less than that of the Czechs. In general, one can say that the different ethnic groups did not constitute closed groups in Vienna, but that they lived mainly as a function of their social relations and their employment conditions.
The institutional life of the Czechs in Vienna is orientated towards Czechoslovakia, reflecting its historic development. After 1945 the central Czech Committee (Cseky ustredni vybor/Tschechischer Zentralausschus) was founded within which all of the political movements were represented. After 1948 there was a division of the ethnic group. The largest part rejected co-operation with the Communist regime in Prague and sought refuge in the umbrella organisation of the Council of Czech and Slovak minority ethnic groups in Austria (Mensinová rada české a slovenské větve v Rakousku/Minderheitsrat der tschechischen und slowakischen Volksgruppe in Österreich) which united several other groups. On the other side, the umbrella group sympathetic to the Communist authorities in Prague was constituted as the Union of Czechs and Slovaks in Austria (Sdru ení Čechů a Slováků v Rakousku/Vereinigung der Tschechen und Slowaken in Österreich); in 1974 the Cultural Club of the Czechs and Slovaks (Sdru ení Čechů a Slováků v Rakousku/Vereinigung der Tschechen und Slowaken in Österreich) was founded, as a forum for emigrants from Czechoslovakia (in 1968 and subsequently). For easily understood reasons there was little collaboration between the two sides prior to 1989. It was not until the beginning of the 1990s that this relationship was stabilised.