POLISH MINORITY IN THE CZECH PART OF TĚŠÍN SILESIA IN 2017: CAN ACCENT ON SCHOOLS PREVENT THE ENTIRE ASSIMILATION?
POLISH MINORITY IN THE CZECH PART OF TĚŠÍN SILESIA IN 2017: CAN ACCENT ON SCHOOLS PREVENT THE ENTIRE ASSIMILATION?

Author(s): Hynek Böhm
Subject(s): School education, Ethnic Minorities Studies, Sociology of Education, Pedagogy
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Polish minority; Těšín Silesia; education; assimilation;
Summary/Abstract: The territory of Těšín Silesia was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1920. This artificial division forced about 200 000 non-Czech first language speakers – 64 000 of them declared themselves to be Poles - to become Czechoslovak citizens. Almost 90 years afterwards only 26 000 inhabitants declared Polish nationality during the last census in 2011. The article analyses activities of both civic (non-governmental organisations - NGOs) as well as public institutions working for the Polish minority in Těšín Silesia region. It identifies strong efforts to stop the progressing assimilation of Polish minority into Czech society by multiple means, spreading from establishing special financial instruments supporting Polish minority organisations towards paradiplomatic activities. The research shows that the education in Polish and accent on the Polish language are the crucial tools to slow-down the assimilation, yet the entire assimilation seems to be inevitable.

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