Abstract
The book tries to answer some questions related to the existence of national minorities in interwar Czechoslovakia (1918-1938). First, it analyzes shortly the foundation of Czechoslovakia and the political parties of the two most numerous minorities, the Germans and the Hungarians.
Also the issues of the Slovak autonomism, Carpathian Ruthenia and the Polish minority are outlined. The second part is focused on the legal status of the minorities, their representation in international forums and in the National Assembly.
It deals with selected policy statements of the Czechoslovak governments and analyzes the essential phenomenon of the status of the national minorities - the language law. It includes also the analyzes of standards related to censorship and press law, also the land reform and its impact on the minorities is mentioned.
The third part follows the attempts of the Czechoslovak Government and President Edvard Beneš to find a modus vivendi with national minorities, in order to provide for national reconciliation as the basic precondition to preserve the state integrity. That part analyzes the efforts of the cabinet to solve the minority issue (February Agreement), presents the six bills of the Sudeten German Party from 1937, describes the situation of interwar education system and summarizes the basic opposition lines of all national minorities, particularly of the Hungarian minority.
The largest space is devoted to the preparation of so called nationality statute that should have constituted the basis for essential changes in the state administration in favour of minorities, which, in its essence, would imply transformation of the Czechoslovak Republic from national into nationality state. The statement of the representatives of the national minorities in the National Assembly, documenting their official attitude in determinative political issues, is the common bond of the whole work.