Odbory spolku „Čech“ a „Československého národního domu T. G. Masaryka v Sofii“ v letech 1919–1939
Divisions of the association „Czech“ and the „Czechoslovakian national house of T. G. Masaryk in Sofia“ in the years 1919–1939

Summary/Abstract: The Czech community in Sofia created complex associations, which became part of its daily life. The main compatriot association was the club “Czech”, established in 1892. It was later succeeded by the “Czechoslovak national house of T. G. Masaryk in Sofia” in 1925. Those big associations were organizing many events and anniversaries, connected with the Czech nation. They also had the very important role of keeping the community unified. Starting as an autonomous association, some of the later divisions of the compatriot club give us important information about what the Czechs thought they were missing in their compatriot society. It was the association of the Czech girls and women, later known as “České srdce” that was the most long-lived among all of them (from 1919 to 1939). It successfully filled not only the role of woman organization, but also as a charitable organization. As such it was very important for ensuing the well-being of all the misfortunate members of the community which fell into poverty. It was also the only division that was reestablished after the Second World War. The economic crisis of the 30s led to the creation of another charitable division of the “Czechoslovakian national house” — the “Baračníci”. It existed only for six years, from 1932 to 1938. Although relatively short lived, this division was mainly oriented into helping poor children from the Czech school in Sofia. As such it also represents the will of the compatriot community to help its members. This will be represented also by the mutual insurance association “Vzájemnost”, which was established in 1921. In 1925 it became the insurance division of the “Czechoslovak national house”. The original idea of insuring the members of the community in the case of death soon became limited by the administrative overload and the issue of sustainability with the declining number of insured people. The primary target to insure all members of the compatriot community was never reached and the division soon fell into a decline and was dissolved after 1934. All those divisions provide us an interesting view of the compatriot community in Sofia. The one resemblance between them was the idea of solidarity within the community which ensured that its members remained unified.

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