Slovaks in

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 ...

(; ) have a history dating back to the early centuries of the Common Era. Currently, there are 35,326 Slovaks in Austria as of 2016. Large communities of Slovaks can be found in

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. ...

and

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

, with a smaller community in

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

History

Prior to the 20th century

Between the fifth and ninth centuries AD, Slovaks controlled the eastern part of what is now considered

, where many ethnic Slovaks still remain. From the 1880s the 1890s, around 230,000

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

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

emigrated to Austria proper, mainly for construction work and other menial labor jobs in the larger cities, particularly

. At the turn of the century, an estimated 70,000 Slovak speakers in Austria, the vast majority being concentrated in

and

Marchfeld The Marchfeld () is a 900 km² sedimentary basin in Lower Austria, that borders Vienna to the east. Geologically, the Marchfeld constitutes the northern half of the Vienna Basin, which spans about 60 kilometers along the Danube. The Marchfeld tradi ...

. Over the next 14 years, this number was decimated to 20,000.

Modern history

After the foundation of

Czechoslovak Republic Czechoslovak Republic (Czech and Slovak: ''Československá republika'', ČSR), was the official name of Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1939 and between 1945 and 1960. See: *First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938) *Second Czechoslovak Republic ...

in 1918, many Slovaks emigrated back to the

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

region. In the 1923 census, only 5,000 Slovacophones declared their language. In 1976, as part of the Treaties of St. German and Brno and the Austrian Ethnic Groups Act, Slovaks were recognized as an autochthonous ethnicity, and freedom to use the Slovak language officially was permitted. In recent years, many thousands of Slovaks have emigrated from Slovakia, mainly due to the open borders of 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 ...

. The population of Slovaks had increased by 800% in 2016.

Notable Slovak Austrians

Carl Ludwig Doleschall Carl Ludwig Doleschall (; ; born 15 July 1827 – died 26 February 1859) was born in Vág-Újhely, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Slovakia), as the son of the theologian Michael Doleschall, and died in Ambon Isla ...

, scientist *

Jan Jesenius Jan Jesenius, also written as Jessenius (, , ; December 27, 1566 – June 21, 1621), was a Bohemian physician, politician and philosopher. Life Early years He was from an old noble family, the House of Jeszenszky, originally from the Kingdom of ...

, physician and professor of anatomy *

Konstantin Jireček Konstantin Josef Jireček (24 July 1854 10 January 1918) was an Austro-Hungarian Czech historian, politician, diplomat, and Slavist. He was the founder of Bohemian Balkanology (or Balkan Studies) and Byzantine studies, and wrote extensively on ...

, politician and Slavist *

Boris Prokopič Boris Prokopič (born 29 March 1988) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brühl in the Swiss third-tier Promotion League. Born in what is now Slovakia, Prokopič was a youth international for Austria. Career Prokopić began his car ...

, footballer for

SC Rheindorf Altach Sportclub Rheindorf Altach, also known as Rheindorf Altach, SCR Altach or simply SCRA, is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently ...

Ludwig Schwarz Ludwig Schwarz, S.D.B. (born 4 June 1940) was the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Linz, Austria from 2005 - 2015. Life Ludwig Schwarz was the first of nine children and grew up in Most pri Bratislave. After the expulsion of his family fr ...

, bishop of the Diocese of Linz *

Tomáš Šimkovič Tomáš Šimkovič (born 16 April 1987) is an Austrian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Latvian club RFS. Career On 1 February 2014, Šimkovič signed a two-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Tobol. On 17 June 2017, � ...

, footballer for

FC Tobol FC Tobol () is a Kazakhstan, Kazakh professional association football, football club based at the Kostanay Central Stadium, Central Stadium in Kostanay. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992. In 20 ...

Thomas Vanek Thomas Vanek (born 19 January 1984) is an Austrian former professional ice hockey winger who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Minnes ...

, ice hockey player for the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

References

{{Portal bar, Austria, Slovakia Ethnic groups in Austria Slovak diaspora *

History

Prior to the 20th century

Modern history

Notable Slovak Austrians

See also

References