Ruský Čech v Gruzii: život a dílo pedagoga a diplomata Jaroslava Svatoše

• Authors: Veronika Sidó

Title variants

EN

A Czech from Russia in Georgia: the life and work of educator and diplomat Jaroslav Svatoš

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

This study forms part of a dissertation on Czechoslovak-Georgian diplomatic relations during the existence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–1921), illustrated through the life and personality of Jaroslav Svatoš, an educator and diplomat, and a prominent representative of the Czechoslovak community living in present-day Georgia between 1894 and 1925. Its aim is to contribute to our understanding of Jaroslav Svatoš’s life and his role as one of the key figures in the development of Czechoslovak-Georgian relations. The study is situated within the broader context of social transformations in Tsarist Russia during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century-changes that directly influenced Svatoš’s activities. In addition to recounting his life story, it also explores the phenomenon of Czech emigration to the Russian Empire and its underlying causes. Sections devoted to Svatoš’s secondary education in Crimea and university studies in Moscow illustrate the transformations of the Russian educational system and student life during that era. Through an examination of Svatoš’s teaching career, the study presents the system of secondary education in Tiflis during the early twentieth century, alongside the region’s social conditions and the specificity of the Caucasus as a Russian territory undergoing intensive Russification. The study also considers the brief but significant diplomatic role played by Jaroslav Svatoš following the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia and the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918. The study’s primary source is Svatoš’s unfinished and as yet unpublished memoir from 1927. This handwritten egodocument, a personal source rich in cultural, political, geographical and pedagogical insights, is analysed to shed light on the influence of Tsarist Russia on the formation of Svatoš’s identity as both educator and diplomat. In his memoir, which titled Vzpomínky ruského Čecha, gymnaziálního profesora a ředitele [Memoirs of a Czech from Russia, a Grammar School Teacher and Principal], Svatoš clearly saw himself as a product of Russian intellectual traditions. Additional sources include archival materials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Georgian State Archive, Russian documents from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and secondary literature on Svatoš and his environment.

EN

Together, these sources aim to contribute not only to research on Czech-Georgian historical relations-an area still largely neglected-but also to a deeper understanding of the broader activities of the so-called Czechoslovak “spiritual army” in Russia, which left an indelible mark on the cultural and educational spheres of the time.

Keywords

EN

Czechoslovak-Georgian diplomatic relations; Caucasus; Georgia; Tiflis; Crimea; Volhynia; Russia; Jaroslav Svatoš

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovanský přehled: historická revue pro dějiny střední, východní a jihovýchodní Evropy (Slavonic Review: Review for Central, Eastern and Southeastern European history)
• Year: 2025
• Volume: 111
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 73-95
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Veronika Sidó

• Slovanský přehled, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic