The world is becoming a single «global village». How do Czech communities abroad live in these conditions? Who, exactly, are these people? Ethnologist Stanislav Brouček has been studying Czech emigration for quite a few years. He has been abroad many times. He travels with one sole purpose: to meet, talk with, and learn the fate of Czech emigrants.
– Stanislav Brouček, all who are interested in this topic know that Czech emigrants are distinguished by one main trait: they are very reluctant to unite in Czech compatriot associations.
– This has been said many times and it is indeed so. Czechs, unlike, for example, Russians or Poles, do not like to unite.
– Nevertheless, Czech compatriot associations abroad do still exist...
– Yes, they exist. This only proves that the aforementioned statement does not apply to all Czechs.
– The two main waves of Czech emigration are the emigration of 1948 and the emigration of 1968. Were they different in any way?
– Of course. For example, in their approach to creating emigrant organizations. People who left their homeland after 1948 believed that they would return home in a few years. They thought and hoped that the communists would not last long, and then they would be able to move back to their homeland. Therefore, they did not consider it necessary to quickly integrate into the new society; they felt Czech, sought contacts with compatriots, and morally prepared to return home.
– People who left after the defeat of the «Prague Spring» of 1968 did not believe in quick democratic changes?
– People who left after 1968 left forever. This was one of the reasons why they did not want to communicate with former compatriots. Moreover, they viewed compatriot associations as a kind of public work that had thoroughly bored them at home.
– How did the family life of Czech emigrants develop? Whom do Czech men and women choose as husbands and wives? Czech women and Czech men, or is nationality no obstacle to love?
– According to my research, there are people who systematically seek life partners within the Czech community because they feel a certain duty and obligation to preserve Czech culture. Therefore, for example, they teach their children Czech and generally try to speak Czech in the family. But there is a very large group of people who are not bothered by these questions, and they do not even try to teach their children their native language. Abroad, raising children as Czechs is a rather difficult task. Incidentally, it often happens that growing children stage a small revolution at home, refusing to speak Czech, claiming that it hinders them in life, and asking their parents to finally notice that the family does not live in the Czech Republic. Sometimes parents give in, and the whole family switches to, say, English. Incidentally, in families with a developed cultural tradition, for example, in families of artists, performers, or teachers, this happens extremely rarely. There, the language and the sense of belonging to Czech culture and the Czech people are passed on through generations.
– I know several Czech-Russian families who live in the Czech Republic, but they speak Russian in the family. Have you encountered cases where Czechs «converted» foreign spouses to their language?
– This is extremely rare. There are very, very few cases where spouses learn to speak Czech.
– Perhaps there are still cases where emigrant children later find a path to the language and culture of their ancestors? For example, they come to Czech universities or start working here?
– I have often observed this in Scandinavia. There are indeed many children there who do not speak Czech even though both parents are of Czech nationality. But such children, over time, may discover something Czech that begins to attract them. A trip to Prague is often the first step; they usually like it very much there, and they develop a certain pride that their parents come from such a beautiful city. Later, as adults, they begin to study Czech.
According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, about half a million Czechs live outside their historical homeland. Many of them are true Czechs who know and love the Czech language and culture. Of the others, one can only say that they are of Czech origin, reminded of it only by their Czech surname. But this is natural. As has already been said, the world has changed a lot, and international migration is a common phenomenon. Who can now predict how many Czechs will live in the Czech Republic in fifty years and how many outside it?
Libor KUKAL.
«Radio Prague»