Čehoslovački savez u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji od propasti Čehoslovačke 1939. do okupacije Jugoslavije 1941.
The Czechoslovak Union in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from the collapse of Czechoslovakia in 1939 to the occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941.

Summary/Abstract: The Czech and Slovak minorities had a common umbrella organization since 1921, the Czechoslovak Union in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1921 in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) whose activities were largely defined by the political relations between Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and their interior organization. The work of the Czechoslovak Union was fatally affected by the events in Czechoslovakia, which ceased to exist in March 1939. This put an end to the assistance of Czechoslovak institutions to the Czechs and Slovak sin Yugoslavia, whose organizations continued to operate in the spirit of unity and cooperation between the two nations. The leadership of the Czechoslovak Union and its president, František Smetánka, joined a secret operation to help refugees from the occupied Czechia who were coming to Yugoslavia, from where they moved to other countries and joined Czechoslovak volunteer units. As a result, they came under attack of the German authorities and in August 1940, Stanislav Veselý, secretary of the Czechoslovak Union, and several other activists, were arrested and extradited to Germany and later ended their lives in concentration camps. Representatives of the Czech minority welcomed the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia in August 1939 because in the past 20 years they supported the demands of Croats to restore their statehood and to get recognition of national identity, which also enabled a better solution to the life problems of the Czech minority. It was also opportune because the Czechs could no longer rely on the support of their old homeland. With the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia in April 1941, the work of Czech societies and schools was banned, so the Czechoslovak Union would resume work at the end of World War II in October 1944 in Daruvar.

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