Monument "70 years since the arrival of the Greeks in the Jeseník Region 1949 – 2019" in Jeseník
The admission of Greek Communist refugees to Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1946-49 Greek Civil War was facilitated by members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) living in exile in Bucharest, Romania. Though they initially expected that the refugees they would soon return to Greece, due to the development of the political situation they could predict no definite end to their stay in Czechoslovakia. As a result, many eventually naturalised as Czechoslovak citizens and generally assimilated, often intermarrying with local Czechs or the small but significant minority of Sudeten Germans allowed to remain in Czechoslovakia following its liberation from Nazi German occupation.[2] In many cases, these Greek refugees were resettled in houses which had formerly been owned by Sudeten Germans and were left unoccupied following the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia.[3] Most were concentrated in or around the towns of Brno (Brünn in German), Ostrava, Opava, and Krnov (Jägendorf in German) in southern Silesia, where Greek farming expertise helped revive agricultural production on lands formerly worked by ethnic Germans. About 5,200 of the migrants consisted of unaccompanied children.[4] The migrants were ethnically heterogeneous, consisting not just of Greek Macedonians, Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks but also Slavo-Macedonians, Aromanians, Sephardi Jews, and even small numbers of Turkish-speaking Greeks or Urums originating in Georgia and Eastern Anatolia.[5]
Beginning in 1975, shortly after the overthrow of the Colonels' dictatorship and a programme of political liberalisation in Greece which led to the legalisation of the KKE, several thousand young Greeks, including those born in Czechoslovakia, emigrated to Greece.[6] Older Greeks followed them some years later, after an arrangement was made between the Greek and Czechoslovak governments for them to receive their pensions in Greece.[7] By 1991, there were just 3,443 people in Czechoslovakia who declared Greek ethnicity; almost all of those were in the Czech portion of the country, with just 65 in the Slovak portion.[8] However, many of those who did emigrate to (mainly northern) Greece continued to retain strong links with the Czech Republic, with a few even using their dual Greek-Czech national identities and contacts to help establish trade links between the two countries.
Language
In their early days in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ethnic Greek Macedonian and Slav Macedonian migrants used Greek as their natural lingua franca; however in orphanages which housed unaccompanied child migrants, it was not uncommon for ethnic Greek children to become receptively bilingual in the Slav-Macedonian language spoken by their playmates.[9] In later years, locally born members of the community showed increasing language shift towards Czech, and tended to have a somewhat weaker command of Greek. However, this may also have been a natural consequence of several factors, including: intermarriage with Czechs and Sudeten Germans, the communist Czechoslovak education system's emphasis on Russian as a second language at the expense of providing for minority-language education, and even the fact many ethnic Greek Macedonians residing in Czechoslovakia were actually Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks and so somewhat more comfortable with the Pontic Greek dialect and/or the Eastern Anatolia dialect of Turkish rather than the Standard (Demotic) Greek used by the majority of Greek speakers.
In situations where families from these communities had ancestors originating in Southern Russia, as was the case with those defined as Caucasus Greeks or Urum, there had been a long tradition of using Russian as a second language after Pontic Greek and Turkish anyway. But the use of Russian was further reinforced in Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia by the compulsory teaching of the language in schools.
Although a poor command of Modern Greek was previously often evident among the grandchildren of Greek refugees born in the 1980s and later,[10] those from families who returned to Greece from the mid-70s have now been fully re-assimilated into Greek society and the Modern Greek education system. In fact, their multi-lingual background has enabled ethnic Greeks from Czechoslovakia (and elsewhere in the former Soviet Bloc) to develop and exploit a marked facility in foreign language learning and communication.
Next Generation Migration - 2008 Greek economic crisis
The next migration was caused by the Greek government-debt crisis in 2008. From 2008 at least 200,000 Greeks emigrated abroad. The main reason for Greeks choosing to move to the Czech Republic was job vacancies at foreign companies - mostly IT companies.
Sloboda, Marián (2003), "Language maintenance and shifts in a Greek community in a heterolinguistic environment: the Greeks in the Czech Republic" (PDF), Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, 29 (1): 5–33, ISSN 0364-2976
Zissaki-Healy, Tassula (2004), "The World We Live In: Children of the storm", The New Presence (3): 27–28, ISSN 1211-8303
Králová, Kateřina (2009), "Otázka loajality řecké emigrace v Československu v letech 1948 až 1968/Loyalty of the Greek Emigrants in Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1968", Slavonic Review, 95 (3): 337–350, ISSN 0037-6922
Greek brain drain - theguardian.com
Further reading
Hradečný, Pavel (2000), Řecká komunita v Československu, její vznik a počáteční vývoj (1948-1954)/The Greek community in Czechoslovakia: its emergence and initial development (1948-1954), Prague: Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Botu, Antula; Konečný, Milan (2005), Řečtí uprchlíci : kronika řeckého lidu v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku 1948-1989/Greek community: chronicle of the Greeks in the Czech Republic, Moravia, and Silesia, 1948-1989, Prague: Řecká obec Praha, ISBN978-80-239-5462-3
Hlavatý, Ivan (2009), "Kuchyně a strava řecké menšiny v České republice jako faktor etnické identity/Cuisine and Food of the Greek Minority in the Czech Republic as a Factor of Ethnic Identity", Národopisná revue, 19 (3): 168–176, ISSN 0862-8351
External links
Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Czech Republic 2012-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
greeks, czech, republic, this, article, require, cleanup, meet, wikipedia, quality, standards, specific, problem, references, please, help, improve, this, article, december, 2022, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, have, presence, dating, back, 20th. This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is References Please help improve this article if you can December 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Greeks in the Czech Republic have a presence dating back to the 20th century Roughly 12 000 Greek citizens mainly from Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece who fled from the 1946 1949 Greek Civil War were settled in several formerly German inhabited areas in Czechoslovakia 1 Contents 1 Migration history 2 Language 3 Next Generation Migration 2008 Greek economic crisis 4 Notable people 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksMigration history Edit Monument 70 years since the arrival of the Greeks in the Jesenik Region 1949 2019 in Jesenik The admission of Greek Communist refugees to Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1946 49 Greek Civil War was facilitated by members of the Communist Party of Greece KKE living in exile in Bucharest Romania Though they initially expected that the refugees they would soon return to Greece due to the development of the political situation they could predict no definite end to their stay in Czechoslovakia As a result many eventually naturalised as Czechoslovak citizens and generally assimilated often intermarrying with local Czechs or the small but significant minority of Sudeten Germans allowed to remain in Czechoslovakia following its liberation from Nazi German occupation 2 In many cases these Greek refugees were resettled in houses which had formerly been owned by Sudeten Germans and were left unoccupied following the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia 3 Most were concentrated in or around the towns of Brno Brunn in German Ostrava Opava and Krnov Jagendorf in German in southern Silesia where Greek farming expertise helped revive agricultural production on lands formerly worked by ethnic Germans About 5 200 of the migrants consisted of unaccompanied children 4 The migrants were ethnically heterogeneous consisting not just of Greek Macedonians Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks but also Slavo Macedonians Aromanians Sephardi Jews and even small numbers of Turkish speaking Greeks or Urums originating in Georgia and Eastern Anatolia 5 Beginning in 1975 shortly after the overthrow of the Colonels dictatorship and a programme of political liberalisation in Greece which led to the legalisation of the KKE several thousand young Greeks including those born in Czechoslovakia emigrated to Greece 6 Older Greeks followed them some years later after an arrangement was made between the Greek and Czechoslovak governments for them to receive their pensions in Greece 7 By 1991 there were just 3 443 people in Czechoslovakia who declared Greek ethnicity almost all of those were in the Czech portion of the country with just 65 in the Slovak portion 8 However many of those who did emigrate to mainly northern Greece continued to retain strong links with the Czech Republic with a few even using their dual Greek Czech national identities and contacts to help establish trade links between the two countries Language EditIn their early days in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic ethnic Greek Macedonian and Slav Macedonian migrants used Greek as their natural lingua franca however in orphanages which housed unaccompanied child migrants it was not uncommon for ethnic Greek children to become receptively bilingual in the Slav Macedonian language spoken by their playmates 9 In later years locally born members of the community showed increasing language shift towards Czech and tended to have a somewhat weaker command of Greek However this may also have been a natural consequence of several factors including intermarriage with Czechs and Sudeten Germans the communist Czechoslovak education system s emphasis on Russian as a second language at the expense of providing for minority language education and even the fact many ethnic Greek Macedonians residing in Czechoslovakia were actually Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks and so somewhat more comfortable with the Pontic Greek dialect and or the Eastern Anatolia dialect of Turkish rather than the Standard Demotic Greek used by the majority of Greek speakers In situations where families from these communities had ancestors originating in Southern Russia as was the case with those defined as Caucasus Greeks or Urum there had been a long tradition of using Russian as a second language after Pontic Greek and Turkish anyway But the use of Russian was further reinforced in Soviet dominated Czechoslovakia by the compulsory teaching of the language in schools Although a poor command of Modern Greek was previously often evident among the grandchildren of Greek refugees born in the 1980s and later 10 those from families who returned to Greece from the mid 70s have now been fully re assimilated into Greek society and the Modern Greek education system In fact their multi lingual background has enabled ethnic Greeks from Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Bloc to develop and exploit a marked facility in foreign language learning and communication Next Generation Migration 2008 Greek economic crisis EditThe next migration was caused by the Greek government debt crisis in 2008 From 2008 at least 200 000 Greeks emigrated abroad The main reason for Greeks choosing to move to the Czech Republic was job vacancies at foreign companies mostly IT companies Notable people EditMartha Elefteriadu and Parthena Tena Elefteriadu Michal Papadopulos Jana Michailidu Loukas Vyntra Epanastatis Prusalis Marko Elefteriadis Rapper Ektor See also EditCzech Republic Greece relationsNotes Edit Sloboda 2003 p 6 Kralova 2009 p 337 Zissaki Healy 2004 p 27 Sloboda 2003 p 8 Sloboda 2003 p 10 Sloboda 2003 p 15 Sloboda 2003 p 16 Sloboda 2003 p 17 Sloboda 2003 p 26 Sloboda 2003 p 20References EditSloboda Marian 2003 Language maintenance and shifts in a Greek community in a heterolinguistic environment the Greeks in the Czech Republic PDF Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 29 1 5 33 ISSN 0364 2976 Zissaki Healy Tassula 2004 The World We Live In Children of the storm The New Presence 3 27 28 ISSN 1211 8303 Kralova Katerina 2009 Otazka loajality recke emigrace v Ceskoslovensku v letech 1948 az 1968 Loyalty of the Greek Emigrants in Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1968 Slavonic Review 95 3 337 350 ISSN 0037 6922 Greek brain drain theguardian comFurther reading EditHradecny Pavel 2000 Recka komunita v Ceskoslovensku jeji vznik a pocatecni vyvoj 1948 1954 The Greek community in Czechoslovakia its emergence and initial development 1948 1954 Prague Institute of Contemporary History Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Botu Antula Konecny Milan 2005 Recti uprchlici kronika reckeho lidu v Cechach na Morave a ve Slezsku 1948 1989 Greek community chronicle of the Greeks in the Czech Republic Moravia and Silesia 1948 1989 Prague Recka obec Praha ISBN 978 80 239 5462 3 Hlavaty Ivan 2009 Kuchyne a strava recke mensiny v Ceske republice jako faktor etnicke identity Cuisine and Food of the Greek Minority in the Czech Republic as a Factor of Ethnic Identity Narodopisna revue 19 3 168 176 ISSN 0862 8351External links EditGreek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Czech Republic Archived 2012 08 19 at the Wayback Machine Portals Czech Republic Greece Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Greeks in the Czech Republic amp oldid 1128398686, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
