POST-WWII MIGRATION FLOWS IN MICRO-PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE OF THE EAST SLOVAK SMALL TOWN MEDZEV

• Authors: Juhászová Tereza
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

During World War II and in its aftermath, Central Europe was exposed to huge migration waves. People of different religions and various mother tongues had to leave their homes and newcomers settled in the abandoned places. This paper focuses on a small town, Medzev, located on the southern edge of Spiš (eastern Slovakia), which was until the end of World War II inhabited mainly by a German-speaking population. While exploring local post-conflict and post-migration settings, this paper focuses on everyday life in the intimate small town community. Drawing on archival sources and oral testimonies, this paper aims to show the micro perspective of the post-war migration flows and interactions in the east Slovak small town. It claims that the dominance of German speakers in the remote town of Medzev was not ended by the post-war expulsion in late 1940s, but rather by economic migration flows connected with socialist industrialization in following decades. This paper argues that in the examined micro space, people were connected mainly through their working experience in the factory Strojsmalt and lived together without major conflicts.

Keywords

EN

MIGRATION; GERMAN MINORITY; INDUSTRIALIZATION; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; MEDZEV; EASTERN SLOVAKIA

• Publisher: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Social Sciences
• Journal: Človek a spoločnosť. Internetový časopis pre pôvodné teoretické a výskumné štúdie z oblasti spoločenských vied
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 1
• Pages: -

Contributors

author

Juhászová Tereza

• Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-6020

Identifiers

DOI

doi.org/10.31577/cas.2022.01.598