Československo-jihoslovanská liga v Moravské Ostravě
| Title in English | Czechoslovak-South Slavic League in Moravian Ostrava |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Časopis slezského muzea, série B, vědy historické |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.szm.cz/media/docs/szmb-3-20-www-604731717cdaa.pdf |
| Keywords | Czechoslovak-South Slavic League; Moravian Ostrava; czechoslovak-yugoslavian relations; 1918-1938; culture; education |
| Description | he author deals with the work of the Czechoslovak-South Slavic League in Moravian Ostrava in the interwar period. She outlines how this nationwide association sought to strengthen the Czechoslovak-Yugoslav reciprocity and support the mutual relations. At the practical level, these tasks and goals were achieved primarily through the organization of educational and cultural activities, translation activities or support for the development of tourism in the Adriatic. The Czechoslovak-South Slavic League and its departments enjoyed official support from the state, especially the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education. It was nearly an official organization and, as such, it was the bearer and co-creator of the official image of the Yugoslavs and Yugoslavia. In the article, the author provides an overview of the activities of the department of the association in Moravian Ostrava, mainly on the basis of the study of the preserved archival materials in the Archives of the City of Ostrava (Czechoslovak-South Slavic League – department in Moravian Ostrava) and Czechoslovak-South Slavic League (1921–1930) and Czechoslovak-South Slavic review (1931–1939). The author finds out that the department of the Czechoslovak-South Slavic League in Moravian Ostrava – operating mainly thanks to Václav Papoušek, Jaroslav Havlíček (and Jaroslav Bláh in Český Těšín) – was established in the 1930s, i.e. in the second decade of operation of the nationwide association, which, at that time, should have already resolved all organizational and administrative matters. Even so, the communication with the headquarters did not work ideally, especially in financial matters, when the Moravian-Ostrava department could not rely on anything. Based on the preserved materials, the author states that the most meritorious activities of this department within the Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations were activities in the field of education – when the department could afford to organize Serbo-Croatian language courses, they were attended by a large number of students. The department also showed off an active student circle operating under its wings. Regularly held conversation parties were also of cultural and educational importance, and, perhaps, no other department organized them in such a form. The author also did not omit the fact that the Moravian-Ostrava department was able to assert its interests in the area it operated; in Český Těšín, there was a very active student group at the local grammar school seeking Czechoslovak-Yugoslav rapprochement, especially through language courses, lectures and correspondence with students from Yugoslavia. The author concludes that even though the Moravian-Ostrava department (as well as others) faced a number of problems (these were mainly related to the financial security of the departments and the ageing of its members (therefore, towards the end of the association, we can observe a certain decline in its activities)), this department of the nationwide mutual association in Moravian Ostrava left at least some traces within the Czechoslovak-Yugoslav cooperation during the interwar period. |
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