Abstract
The book "Czech Traces in Daruvarsko" deals with the past and the present of the Czech minority in Croatia, mainly in the area of Slavonia, where the largest part of the Czech settlement is located, and in the town of Daruvar and the adjacent municipalities. Daruvar is the center of Czech settlement, as well as it is social, cultural and administrative center of it.
The Union of Czechs in the Republic of Croatia has its headquarters there, as it is the key organization of Czech so-called "besedas" and folklore clubs, Czech nursery and primary schools, the Czech Publishing Institution of Jednota, etc. In the Daruvar region, where the percentage of Czechs is the highest in the total population, the authors aimed to describe the historical milestones that shaped the contemporary situation of the Czech expatriate minority in Croatia, ie in the space that their ancestors had been settling since the end of the 18th century, at the time of the existence of the so-called Military Border on this border region of the Habsburg monarchy.
The research was based on two complementary approaches. The first approach uses the methods of classical historical work and consists in observing the history of the Czech settlement of the territory of today's Croatia.
It is based on the study and documentation of the writings and its historical analysis. The knowledge of the historical dimension follows the description of the contemporary form of life of compatriots using qualitative methodology, including narrative interviews with contemporary witnesses whose testimonies provide a wider framework for grasping the events of the 20th century and overlapping to the present.
Both approaches strive for interdisciplinarity, utilizing knowledge from various disciplines, history, sociology, anthropology, and linguistics. We strive to reveal the forms of private life of compatriots, as the Czech descent is still reflected in the everyday life of compatriots, including the problem of their identity and the questions of the second homeland.
It deals with the fundaments of the mosaic creating the identity of the Czechs in Slavonia, among which is their specific culture reflected in their own artistic creation, folklore and perception of their own role in this area, with special regard to the civil war in the 1990s, and, on the other hand, Czech, as a living language, meant to be communicated by both at home, and in the public space. The compatriotic communities in Croatia still live in the legacy of their ancestral country.
However, the presence of the Czechs in Croatia is a case of non-conflict coexistence, not leading to complete assimilation on the one hand, nor in ethnic clashes that existed on the other hand. In the dictionary of modern migration studies, the coexistence of the Czech minority in Croatia is a model example of the inclusive integration of immigrants into the receiving country.
The authors of the monograph are showing to readers the testimony of the Czechs in Croatia, as representatives of Czechs abroad, who belong to a holistic view of the Czech history, respectively the Czech culture and the Czech national identity, which represents the specific cultural heritage to be cared for.