Abstrakt
One of the most important support of the Czechoslovak resistance movement during the First World War were the Czechoslovak Legions, which originated abroad (in France, Italy, Russia) from the ranks of Czechoslovak compatriots or prisoners of war. The Czechoslovak legions in Russia were among the most numerous.
After the battle at Zborov, to which the Czechoslovak units significantly contributed, a wider recruitment of the prisoners into legions was allowed. However, in the case of Slovak prisoners, the recruitment was not very successful.
On the one hand, they were in a numerous disadvantage compared to the Czechs. On the other hand, they did not have developed political consciousness and were incredulous to political agitation.
This led to the weak loyalty of Slovak prisoners to the Czechoslovak army. Therefore in autumn 1918 the so-called educational camp for Slovaks in the Russian town Irkutsk was established.
This should contribute to building Czechoslovak awareness among Slovak legionnaires. The paper will examine how the camp's leaders tried to "educate" the Slovaks.
Through journals and pamphlets that were published in the camp, the paper aims to find out, if and in what form the ideology of Czechoslovakism was reflected in them. Based on a personal fund of one of the camp's officials, the paper will examine whether some unified tactics or methods have been adopted to be used in the camp.
The paper will also address how camp officials have tried to deal with Bolshevik or anti-Czechoslovak agitation among Slovak prisoners.