Hello, My name is Mary and I live in Arkansas, USA and am new to the group. My great-grandfather, Joseph Michalek (b. 1864), immigrated to USA about 1880 from Moravia. His parents were Anton Michalek and Magdalena Schramm. I am interested in learning more about the Moravian/Czech culture, history and social structure in the 1800s and today.
Welcome Mary, Name Michalek is Czech for sure, Schramm sounds more like German origin, but then borders were moving back and forth - including to Austria, so her ancestors probably came from that (or other) area.
My grandfather was Moravian and spoke German fluently. Moravia was area where the Czechs, Germans, and Austrians intermarried heavily. I cannot recall the source, but years ago I remember seeing an ethnic demographic of Bohemia and Moravia, and Moravia had a large number of German ethnic pockets compared to Bohemia where the Germans settled on the Sudeten Border areads with the large cities being populated with Germans and Austrians. The ethnic identities of the Moravians were blurred with the intermarriage, but to this day the Moravians consider themselves the true guardians of Czech customs and culture. Hard to imagine. Similarly the Scots nearly lost their language and custom to the English with the American-Scoth Irish being the group that preserved the customs to a later more tolerant period. The Czech language, and culture almost disappeared under the continous assaults of the Hapsburgs to Germanize the Czechs. It was until the mid 1800's that Czech Nationalist Movement revived the Czech identity along with the Sokol movement. Czech history has been filled with years of struggle to just survive as a language and culture. The Poles have had a similar history but have had the strength of vehement Catholism as the core of their ethnic identity. The Czech and Slovak National Museum, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has quite a few books on the Czech lands being the cross road of Europe. Welcome and enjoy.
Magan and John, Thank you for replying to my post. Since my post my cousin and I hired a professional researcher in Czech Republic. From the records he located we have learned our ancestors were German speaking. We also learned about the expulsion of Germans from their homelands in Czech and Poland to Germany and we might not have any relatives in Czech although there are Michaleks and Schramm listed in the Czech online phone book. The researcher we hired was able to trace our ancestors back to our 5X gr grandparents. All but one was born in Moravia. This information as energized both of us to do further research on our ancestors' homeland. The information you gave me is very helpful Mary from USA
To Kookoo: Yes, in 1947, the Czechoslovak Government did by force remove former Czech and Slovak citizens that refused to identify themselves as slavs. After the recent liberation of Czechoslovakia the Germans had the nerve to demand reparations from the revived Ceskosolvensko Republica, that was wholly refused. Without alot of mention, the Polish Government in the late 1940's also removed all ethnic Germans from their country with the exceptions of some pockets being left in East Prussia and Silesia. Nazi occupation in both instances was harsh on the Czechs and Poles, especially the Poles. Michener's book "Poland" explains fully the wholesale elimination of the Polish intellectuals, and the Catholic clergy, the guardians of Polish Nationalism. Most of the old ethnic animosities have subsided in recent years, even though the Germans have been attempted to keep Polish laborers from working in Germany. Poland has the one of the highest birthrates in Europe, whereas rest the of Europe, Germany and Czech Republic, have rapidly aging poplulations with one child per family. Russia has the same problem with low birthrates. Your researcher will most likely find a good deal of information on your relatives from church records. Most of my Rihacek relatives still live in the same two villages, and are buried in a Catholic Church cemetary that lies between the two villages in Moravia. Due to the fact, that 5 of the 7 children left Kuzelov for the US in the 1880's the remaining relatives are small in numbers. Let us know how your search progresses. Good Luck John T. Rihacek
Hi John Thank you for the additional information. I did a google search on expulsion of czech and poles to germany after World War 1 and found lots of information. What I learned is that this is still a very hot topic. On site was Wikepedia and there were two articles with different views. Have a great day Mary
More acurate: After WW2 Czechoslovak Government did by force remove all nazi Third Reich citizens who were unable to prove that they did not betrayed Czechoslovak Republic. These people already identified themselves as Germans (some of them were forced to do it). After WW2 the Allies decided to relocate them to Germany. Their property were confiscated to cover part of war reparations. Germany were required to compensate them for it and pay the rest of reparations. Germany did fullfil neither of these requirements. They feel now like victims of WW2 and want once their property back. Their chance to get something from real victims of WW2 is somewhere between none and zero. For Czechs and Poles they are people who started the war and commited crimes agains humanity so any form of compensation is out of question.
MK, Many thanks for your information. Were all of the German speaking Czech and Poles who were expelled Nazi? If they were, then this causes me deep pain to know that my relatives might have been Nazi. I wonder if my relatives (that is if there are any still living over there) know that there is strong evidence their ancestors were Jewish. I am truly been blessed by everyone who has replied to my postings. I am learning a lot about my roots. Blessings Mary
Mary, If your ancestors were of Jewish origin, then your relatives might not been Nazis. There are only small Jewish community in CZ now, lot of them were murdered during WW2 and after war most of survivors decided to emigrate mainly to Israel. Language vs. nationality Nazis ideology declares that the Germans are super-humans and others are lesser beings. So the segregation is not based on language but on nationality. In Czechoslovakia Jewishs were largest group of german speaking people of non-German origin. Sudeten Germans Most of Germans who lived in Czechoslovakia during First Republic (between World Wars) identified themselves with Nazi ideology and strived to be part of Nazi Third Reich. They formed Sudeten-German Nazi Party (SdP) and this party won app. 65% of all German votes ( so not every German supported Nazis, but this result is pretty higher than result which brought Nazis to power in Germany). They were successful and all parts bordering Germany were annexed by Third Reich and people living there became Third Reich citizens. After WW2 these areas rejoined Czechoslovakia and all Third Reich citizens and all Germans and also all Hungarians lost Czechoslovak citizenship, with some exceptions: people who were forced to became Third Reich citizens, antifascists etc. Expulsion Postdam conference then ruled transfer of German population to Germany. Czechoslovak government did not force to leave Czechoslovak citizens of German nationality, but many decided to leave. Also some of Germans without Czechoslovak citizenship were not Nazis (Germans who were not able to prove it or Germans who did not wish to “re-apply” for CS citizenship). About 10% of Germans remained in Czechoslovakia. Last year Czech Government decided to fund research about German Anti-fascists to give them public recognition. Exact number of Sudeten - Germans who were neither Nazis or Anti-Nazis is unknown. Hope this info will be useful for you. Kind Regards MK
