Czechs in Poland form a small minority of 3,447, according to the 2011 census,http://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf up from 386 in 2002. Czech presence in Poland dates back several centuries, with more numerous migration to Poland starting in the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

. Most of them reside in and around

Zelów Zelów (; ) is a town in Bełchatów County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland, with 7,459 inhabitants (2020). It is located in the historic Sieradz Land. History Zelów was probably founded in the 13th century, when it was part of fragmen ...

(81, in

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province is named after its capital and largest city, Łódź, pronounced . Łódź Voivodeship is bordered by six other voivodeships: Masovian Voivodeship ...

), in the Czech Corner within the southwest portion of

Kłodzko County __NOTOC__ Kłodzko County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed ...

(47, in

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

) and in the Polish sections of

Cieszyn Silesia Cieszyn Silesia, Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia ( ; or ; or ) is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered on the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided betwe ...

(61). Some live in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

History

After the Bohemian loss to Austria at the

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...

of 1620, many Czechs adhering to the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

fled subsequent Austrian Catholic persecution to Poland. The main center of Czechs in Poland became

Leszno Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Leszno is a former residential cit ...

. Notable Czech refugee in Poland was philosopher

John Amos Comenius John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unit ...

. A notable remnant of the Czech Protestants in Poland are the files and library of the Unity of the Brethren from Leszno, now held at the State Archive and

Raczyński Library The Raczyński Library ( Polish: ''Biblioteka Raczyńskich w Poznaniu'') is a public library founded by Count Edward Raczyński in Poznań. The library's building was erected in 1822–1828 with the financial support of Edward Raczyński Found ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and the Kórnik Library in

Kórnik Kórnik is a town with about 7,600 inhabitants (2018), located in western Poland, about south-east of the city of Poznań. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the Wielkopolska region and the Greater Poland Voivodeship because of the hi ...

, and listed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Memory of the World UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...

and its environs and in

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

. Czechs of Kwasiłów in Volhynia founded a local branch of the

Sokol movement The Sokol movement (, ) is an all-age gymnastics organization founded in Prague in the Czech lands of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of "Mens sana in corpore sano, a strong mind ...

in 1911, which formed part of the Polish

Sokół movement ''Sokół'' (, English: Falcon), or in full the Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół" (), is the Poland, Polish offshoot of the Czech Sokol movement, and the oldest youth movement organization of Poland. Created in Lviv, Lwów in 1867, by th ...

. Within interwar Poland, the main centers of Czechs were Zelów and Kwasiłów in the Wołyń Voivodeship (1.5%). After the war many Czechs of Volhynia were expelled by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and forcibly resettled in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Czechs in Poland and Poles of Czech descent

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Czechs In Poland *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Diasporas in Poland

History

Czechs in Poland and Poles of Czech descent

See also

References

External links