Slovaks in the Czech lands after 1945: Between the state nation, minority and assimilation

The study examines migration of Slovaks to the Czech Lands since 1945 till present days. It focuses on migration waves in post-war decades according to results of population censuses, it also describes the numbers and territorial placement of Slovaks in Czechia and it characterizes their social, demographic and educational structure, as well as their activities and change of legal status after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Slovaks are not original, autochthonous inhabitants of the Czech Lands, but they came there long time before the creation of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. Their migration had mainly social and economic motives. Since the early 1990s qualitative changes in character of migration started to emerge, when social reasons were often replaced by familial ones. After the division of Czechoslovakia political motives appeared as well. In 1945–1992 Slovaks lived in the Czech Lands as members of the second state-forming nation of the Czechoslovak Republic. After the creation of the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993, their legal status changed and they became the most numerous minority starting to create a new identity. Thanks to activities of nationally-committed Slovak intelligentsia Slovaks in the Czech Republic started to reflect the benefits of their status of an ethnic minority in democratic society with guaranteed laws for development of their national life.Key words: Slovaks, migrations, Czech Lands, national minority