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1

THE ZAOLZIE DISTRICT IN CZECH POLITICAL OPINION (1934-1938)

100%
Gruchala J.
Dzieje Najnowsze
|
2006
|
issue 1
65-87
EN
The beginning of 1934 signified growing interest on the part of the Polish authorities in the situation of the Polish minority in the Zaolzie (trans-Olza) district of Czechoslovakia. The foreseeable disintegration of Czechoslovakia was envisaged as an opportune circumstance for incorporating Zaolzie into Poland. For the time being, the Polish government demanded a guarantee of equal rights for the Polish minority. These calls were accompanied by an anti-Czech campaign initiated by the Polish press which, in turn, incited polemical commentaries in the press organs of assorted Czech political environments. The journals associated with the 'Hrad' group as well as the publications of the social-democrats and the peasant parties stressed the negative outcome for Poland of the territorial claims addressed to Czechoslovakia. The most vehement critical response to the Polish stand was made by the Czech national democrats. Nonetheless, aware of the threat posed by Germany, this party supported the retention of correct relations between Warsaw and Prague. A successive occasion for expressing opinions about the Zaolzie district was created by the anti-Czech demonstrations held in Poland in the summer of 1935. The Polish policy towards Czechoslovakia was criticised by the national socialists, the social-democrats, members of the peasant parties, the communists and even the pro-Polish supporters of the agrarian parties. The authorities in Warsaw were accused of firing irredentist strivings among the Polish minority and of hoping to incite an armed conflict with Czechoslovakia. In 1936, when the Czech authorities increased their harassment of the Polish minority, Czech political circles called for presenting the conflict caused by the Zaolzie district to the Council of the League of Nations or to reinitiate suitable negotiations. This attitude was influenced by French attempts at improving the relations between both states. In 1937, the interest of Czech political circles suddenly waned despite the fact that the government in Prague announced an improvement of the situation of the Polish minority. Greatest attention was paid to the Zaolzie question by the communists for the purposes of criticising Poland in accordance with directives received from Moscow. Even lesser interest was disclosed by Czech political opinion in 1938. At that time, all attention was concentrated on the postulates formulated by the German minority and the policy pursued by the Third Reich in relation to Czechoslovakia.
2

The Attitude of Czech Politicians Towards the Soviet Union and Polish-Soviet Relations (1926-1935)

100%
Gruchala J.
Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej
|
2004
|
vol. 39
101-120
EN
To the beginning of June 1934 Czechoslovakia did not de iure recognise the Soviet Union despite the fact that a Soviet diplomatic mission had existed in Prague since 1922, and a Czechoslovak one - in Moscow. The attitude represented by the government in Prague was influenced by fears of a deterioration of relations with the Small Entente allies and Yugoslavia, and the anti-Soviet campaign conducted by the National Democrats as well as by a negative attitude among other parties towards the recognition of the Soviet authorities. On the other hand, the interests demonstrated by Czech industrialists in the establishment of trade contacts with the Soviet Union became the reason why both the government in Prague and a major part of the Czech parties supported diplomatic relations with the authorities in Moscow. At the same time, slightly more attention was devoted to Polish-Soviet relations under the impact of the interest shown by the Soviet government in a non-aggression pact with Poland, which was perceived as a reinforcement of the international position of the Polish state. An eventual improvement of relations between Warsaw and Moscow could have become for the Czech authorities and some of the local political groups an additional argument in favour of inaugurating trade relations and a de iure recognition of the Soviet Union. At the end of the 1920s the National Democrats were skeptical about the possibility of improving the relations between Poland and her eastern neighbour and did not attach greater attention to the Polish-Soviet nonaggression pact signed in 1932. A change in Soviet foreign policy, which took place in 1933, increased the interests of the Czech authorities and certain politicians not only in a de iure recognition of the Soviet Union and the commencement of cooperation. This was also the period of an onset of pro-Soviet sympathies, cultivated not only by the communists but also by the Social Democrats and peasant parties. The accompanying negative opinion about the Polish policy towards the Soviet Union was expressed predominantly by journalists associated with the 'Hrad' group. The Czechoslovak-Soviet mutual assistance pact signed on 16 May 1935 increased pro-Soviet sympathies among the majority of the Czech political circles. The hopes connected with the alliance proved to be unfounded: the authorities in Moscow did not intend to become embroiled in a war conducted far from Soviet borders.
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