The city of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

is home to a long-established

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

population. During the time of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Czechs were the largest non-German speaking population in Vienna. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the independence of

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 ...

, many of the Viennese Czechs returned to their homeland. Today, Vienna is home to a small Czech population that has grown in numbers since the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

's admission to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in 2004.

History

The city was part of the realm of King

Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar II (; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Austria, Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death in 1278 ...

, considered one of the greatest rulers of Bohemia. In 1276, Ottokar II laid the foundation stone for the Gothic Minorites Church. After Ottokar II's death in the

Battle on the Marchfeld The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava (river), Morava Field''; ; ; ); at Dürnkrut, Austria, Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history of Central Europe for the following centuries. T ...

, his embalmed body was initially kept in the Minorites Church before his burial in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, whereas his heart was buried in the Saint Catherine Chapel in Vienna. A number of Czech noble families had residences in the city, with notable preserved examples including the Palais Kinsky, Palais Lobkowitz and Palais Chotek. History of Czech print media in Vienna dates back to the 18th century.

20th century

GuentherZ 2007-01-27 Wien05 Margaretenplatz7

Around the start of the 20th century, Vienna (

''Vídeň'', Hungarian ''Bécs'') was the city with the second-largest

population in the world (after

). At its peak, in 1900, out of 1,674,957 inhabitants of Vienna, 102,974 people claimed Czech or Slovak as their colloquial language. However, as Umgangssprache (everyday language) was not properly defined by the Austrian authorities, there are claims that the Czech minority numbered as high as 250,000-300,000, making Vienna a city with the second largest Czech speaking population, only after Prague. After World War I, many

Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...

and other nationalities returned to their ancestral countries, resulting in a decline in the Viennese population. Czechs were among the prisoners of the Vienna-Schönbrunn subcamp of the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

operated in the city during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

used force to repatriate key workers of Czech and Hungarian origins to return to their ethnic homelands to further the Soviet bloc economy. In 1994, the Czech Centre in Vienna was founded.

21st century

The number of Czech citizens in Vienna grew from 3,179 in 2013 to 4,215 in 2019. During the same period, the population born in the Czech Republic fell from 16,193 (2013) to 13,620 (2019).

References

* Basler, Helena. ''Vídeňští Češi 1945-2005 : k dějinám národnostní menšiny = Die Wiener Tschechen 1945-2005 : zur Geschichte einer Volksgruppe'', Wien; Praha : České kulturněhistorické centrum, 2006-. * Baslerová, Helena; Kulturní klub Čechů a Slováků v Rakousku. ''Die Wiener Tschechen 1945-2005 : zur Geschichte einer Volksgruppe'', Wien : Tschechisches kulturhistorisches Institut; Praha : KLP - Koniasch Latin Press, 2006-. * Bernas, Karl. ''Sokol Favoriten'', Wien : Museumsverein Favoriten, 2000. * Brousek, Karl M. ''Wien und seine Tschechen : Integration und Assimilation einer Minderheit im 20. Jahrhundert'', München : Oldenbourg, 1980. * Glettler, Monika. ''Böhmisches Wien'', Wien : Herold, 1985. * Glettler, Monika. ''Sokol und Arbeiterturnvereine (D.T.J.) der Wiener Tschechen bis 1914.'', München, Wien, Oldenbourg, 1970. * Lutz, Freddy. ''Böhmische Emigranten'', Wien : F. Lutz, 1993. * Hauner, Milan. ''The Czechs in Vienna around 1900. Structural Analysis of a National Minority in a Metropolis'', Philosophy and History, v8 n2 (1975); 264–266. * Martin, Otto. ''Das tschechische Schulwesen in Wien'', (Salzburg) (Druck von R. Kiesel), 1924. * Valeš, Vlasta. ''Die wiener Tschechen, einst und jetzt : eine Einführung in Geschichte und Gegenwart der tschechischen Volksgruppe in Wien = Vídeňští češi včera a dnes : úvod do dějin a současnosti české národnostní skupiny ve Vídni'', Praha : Scriptorium, 2004. * Wonisch, Regina. ''Tschechen in Wien : zwischen nationaler Selbstbehauptung und Assimilation'', Wien : Löcker, 2010.

External links

The German National Attack on the Czech Minority in Vienna
{{Czech diaspora

History

20th century

21st century

See also

References

Further reading

External links