Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE SOCIETY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7.pdf/8

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7

Hungarians are concentrated largely in southern Slovakia, the Germans in western Bohemia, the Poles in northern Moravia, and the Ukrainians (Ruthenians) in eastern Slovakia (Figure 1). In addition, some 30,000 Gypsies, who are not counted statistically as an ethnic minority, are mainly located in southern Slovakia and parts of Bohemia. A small Jewish population is scattered throughout the country, and lives mostly in the larger towns.

Czech-Slovak rivalry has historical roots and is the only ethnic divisive factor of any significance in the society today. The Slovaks were dominated by the Hungarians for a thousand years before Czechoslovak independence in 1918, while the formerly independent Czech kingdom was subjugated to the Austrians from 1620 to 1918, but linguistic and cultural differences between Czechs and Slovaks remained generally minimal. Following World War I, however, a trend toward ethnic differentiation set in, which in turn contributed to political differences. Much of the ethnic differentiation arose out of socioeconomic differences. The Czechs, who outnumbered the Slovaks two to one, were mostly urban dwellers and as such regarded themselves as culturally superior to the Slovaks, who traditionally made up a peasant society dominated by a Hungarian elite. The Slovaks naturally resented Czech airs of superiority and came to think of themselves more and more as a separate people. The existence of a separate Slovak state from 1939 to 1945, sponsored by the Nazis, strengthened this feeling of distinctiveness.

During the early years of the Communist regime, both the Slovaks and the minorities feared absorption by the majority Czech population. In order to allay this fear, the regime embarked on a program of economic, social, and political equalization. The 1960 constitution granted minorities "all opportunities and means for education in their mother tongue and for their cultural development." In addition, it gave them the right to publish their own newspapers and periodicals.

The policy of equalization, however, was not wholly successful and the regime switched to a campaign of repression against what it termed "nationalism and chauvinism." Another switch followed in 1968, when the Dubcek regime reaffirmed the legal status of minorities and the right of all ethnic groups to "develop their own cultural identities." Of particular importance was the granting to the Slovaks greater control over domestic affairs and equal status with the Czechs under a new federalization. Although the current Husak regime has restricted somewhat the effects of true federalization and has not carried out the full intentions of the Dubcek government toward minorities in general, it has not returned to the repressive measures of the pre-Dubcek days.

'''FIGURE 1. Major concentrations of ethnic minorities (U/OU)'''

2

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7