Udělování československého státního občanství „krajanům vracejícím se do vlasti“ podle ústavního zákona č. 74/1946 Sb.
Granting of the Czechoslovak Citizenship to the “Compatriots Returning to Their Homeland” under Constitutional Act No. 74/1946 Coll.

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to highlight certain aspects of the application of Constitutional Act No. 74/1946 on the granting of citizenship to compatriots returning to their homeland, and to present some of the research brought to light from archival collections of the post-war Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute. The article points out that remigration under article 1 of the above-quoted Constitutional Act was not merely a privileged naturalization as was remigration under article 2 – compatriots were legally entitled to citizenship. Attention is paid especially to the contemporary extensive interpretation, which we could capture through the maxim in favorem remigrationis. Hence, for example, the legal terms “liberation of Czechoslovak territory from enemy occupation” and “Czechoslovak resettlement action” used to be interpreted remarkably broadly in the administrative practice of the post-war republic. In addition, the study reflects on the concepts of nation that have been crucial in determining the state’s policy on compatriots and remigration, and it looks for parallels with the recent compatriot policy of the Government of the Czech Republic.

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