im interested in finding out some info about the czech rep.'s racial & ethnic diversity. i've always had an interest in eastern europe, and now that the EU has expanded to take on these new eastern european countries, im even more interested, and would love to visit sometime in the near future. i'd be interested to know how large are the minorities in the czech rep. are there many blacks/asians/mixed race people, many religious minorities like muslims, jews etc. also im very interested in knowing about the gypsy/roma population that lives there, as i have some gypsy ancestry myself, not much. is that common in the czech rep. for gypsys to mix with other czechs? the roma are the largest minority in the europe (perhaps the EU?), is that right? if there are any gypsies on this forum. please pm me (or contact me on my msn/aim/yahoo contacts). i have many questions. thanks.
Hello! As far as Black people in the Czech Republic, you wont see too many. In Prague you will sometimes see a few here and there. The number is so small that I dont think it even registers in the national census. You will see a good deal of Asisns in the cities, especially Vietnamese who came to Czechoslovakia during the past regime to work. I dont know the numbers but I can tell you that in every city of any size you will be used to seeing Asians at least on occasion. I think there are about 25,000 Muslims in Czech. Most are Kosovar and Bosnian refugees and have a tendency to look like other Europeans so they dont really stand out. As far as Gypsies go, I've read anything from one to three percent of Czech is Gypsie. No, Czechs and Gypsies usually dont mix in the way of getting married and having children or in any other way to be honest. I've never actually known any Czech who married a Gypsie although I'm sure it exists, it's just not at all common. I've known some Czech girls who married Turks or Arabs but not Gypsies. I think the social stigma may be a bit much for that. Not to be offensive, but although Czechs are not too outspoken about other racial groups and usually ignore those who they dont like, most arent too crazy about Gypsies. Again, I dont want to offend but this is the way it is with the "common folks" in Czech. Maybe among intellectual types is is different but with the plain people you see on the street, Gypsies are not well liked (mostly ignored). The number of Jews is very small and even smaller those who actually profess the Jewish religion. For the most part, the Czech Republic is ethnicly Czech with about a three percent Slovak minority (both of whom you wouldn't be able to tell apart unless you heard the Slovak speaking and you were fluent enough in Czech to tell the difference between the two languages plus most Czechs dont really see the Slovaks as a minority-maybe because they speak such a similar language and are so closely related in the Slavic family) with a one or two percent Gypsie minority and several thousand Vietnemese. Most census's say that the Czech Republic is 95 percent Czech. Also, prior to the years following World War II the nation was around 25 percent German- mostly in the boarder regions near Germany, Austria, and what is today Southwestern Poland- In fact, in the first three decades of the Czechoslovak Republic ther were more Germans in Czechoslavakia that there were Slovaks, but alomst all Germans were evicted from the country following WWII. This same thing happened in Poland and other nations to the east of Germany in the years following the war. Also, I dont know the national figures but prior to WWII the city of Prague was about four percent Jewish- the nation as a whole was maybe one percent or so. Hope this helps.
i nearly forgot about this topic, until i was checking my emails, and saw that someone had replied. thanks for your detail response. much appreciated
Hi, a fairly reliable online source of countries' elementary information is CIA's World Factbook; do check out http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/ez.html for the Czech Republic, see section People. The figures for the Roma population are not nearly as high as Beneditka wrote above. As a matter of fact they're smaller than that by one decimal order of magnitude. Information published by the Czech Statistical Office reveals that fewer people in the Czech Republic have been claiming their Roma ethnicity than in older times (fewer than 12 thousand in 2001 as opposed to nearly three times more in 1991) although the number of people claiming Roma as their first language remains high (more than 23 thousand and another nearly 13 thousand in combination with Czech in 2001). Also, I don't know why some people in the region, Benedikta included, tend to mix ethnicity and religion. While there may be some correlations they're still two distinctly different things. I agree that the Roma have traditionally been resistent towards mixing with the Caucasian ethnic groups in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, probably not unlike in other European countries. This may be a little different in different areas. Especially mixing at the social level is quite common in large cities. Mixed marriages are rather rare though (although I know of at least one couple like that myself). As regards Vietnamese, who are the largest Asian group of people in this country, I believe most of them are actually legal aliens, not the Czech Republic's citizens, as the statistics say there are over 31 thousand of them here (the other large groups being Slavic: Ukranian, Slovak, Polish, and Russian)... Jirka
A joke I have heard recently: - What's the worst thing a Gypsy can say you? - ??? - Good morning, my neighbour.
:lol: I remember having Gypsies as neighbours in a flat below me. Not sure if they were 'proper' Roma - but they told everyone who'd listen they were...
Hi! I hope I don't sound like a "clueless American ". I do have some Bohemian, thats for sure. My ggg grandparents came here from Nosadl. I have no idea if the village still exists or not. If it does I do not know where it is. Here's a bit of what my g grandma told me about possible gypsie connections. Her aunt was a cook at a hotel in Braidwood, Illinois USA. Gypsies would occasionally camp out in a park near the hotel, during the day women and children would beg for food, then at night her aunt would cook for the gypsies at a bonfire. I have recently been told that my ggg grandfather's brother traveled for a 1 and 1/2 yrs as a musician through Serbia, Russia and Turkey. Can anyone help seperate fact from fiction :?: :roll:
gybzy:I found something for you..... Nosadl was German name of the place as it was by the border/Germany/Czechoslovakia and border changed. Village is called NOSALOV now. Population of village of Nosalov 150 people. From that is 76 women and 74 men (out of that 4 girls under 15 yrs. old and 11 boys under 15 yrs. old.) There is total of 98 households. Perhaps you could be interested in learning something about the village? See http://www.hospudkaunas.cz/ http://www.bakovnj.cz/furiant/fotogaler ... /index.htm Hope you enjoy it!
Qoute: "her aunt would cook for the gypsies at a bonfire"...This doesn't sound right to me. Why would she cook for them. They could cook for themselves. And anyway - Groups of single man didn't travel, always group of families - so no reason for anyone else cooking for them. Another thing about Gypsies, they do not stay for long. I would also question gypsies travelling in Illinois....that sounds rather strange. What else do you know? Names and year of birth of your ancestors from CR?
Howdy! Thank you for your question Magan. I have recently found a website for the town, Braidwood, there were people who did travel into town at that time. It was originally a coal mining town. They were called transients, tramps and thieves. They would stay 1 or 2 years at a time. I dont know if they were considered gypsies or not. Maybe the aunt was just a humanitarian who wanted to care for the less fortunate. I'm guessing maybe she told my g grandma they were gypsies because they travelled around Illinois or US. Or maybe she didn't want her to go bothering them. Thanx! By 4 now!
