After the entry of the Red Army into Czechoslovak territory in 1945, Red Army authorities began to arrest and deport Czechoslovak citizens to labor camps in the Soviet Union. The regions most affected were Eastern and South Slovakia and Prague. The Czechoslovak authorities repeatedly requested a halt to the deportations and that the deported Czechoslovaks be returned immediately. It took a long time before these protests generated any response. Czechoslovak Diplomacy and the Gulag focuses on the diplomatic and political aspects of the deportations. The author explains the steps taken by the Czechoslovak Government in the repatriation agenda from 1945 to 1953 and reconstructs the negotiations with the Soviets. The research tries to answer the question of why and how the Russians deported the civilian population from Czechoslovakia which was their allied country already during the war. Key words: 1. World War, 1939–1945—Deportations from Czechoslovakia. 2. Forced labor—Soviet Union—History. 3. Labor camps—Soviet Union—History. 4. Czechs—Soviet Union—History. 5. Slovaks—Soviet Union—History. 6. Czechoslovakia—Foreign relations—Soviet Union. 7. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—Czechoslovakia. 8. Czechoslovakia—Foreign relations—1945–1992. 9. Repatriation—Czechoslovakia—History.
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Some Notes on the Concept of Czechoslovakia from the Point of View of the Constitution and National Identity
- 1. The Constitutional Concept of Slovakia
- 2. The Position of the Ruling Circles on the Issue of Nationalities in Czechoslovakia
- 3. Citizenship in Postwar Czechoslovakia and the Decrees of President Beneš
- PART I. CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND ITS INHABITANTS AS THE VICTIMS OF DEPORTATION
- I. Deportations from Slovakia
- 1. Circumstances of Deportation
- 2. Personal Stories of Deported Civilians
- 3. Prisoners of War, Auxiliary Help and the Levente
- II. Other Deportations from Czechoslovakia to the USSR
- 1. The Deportation of Émigrés from Russia and Ukraine and the Forced Repatriation of Soviet Citizens
- 2. Subcarpathian Rus and Transcarpathian Ukraine
- 3. Czechoslovak Silesia: The Teschen, Hlučín and Kravaře Regions
- PART II. POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY
- I. Czechoslovak–Soviet Repatriation Negotiations
- 1. Flouting of the Czechoslovak–Soviet Treaty of 8 May 1944 by the Soviet Union in 1945
- 2. Czechoslovak and Soviet Information and Arguments in 1946
- 3. The Enforcement of the Selective Principle
- II. Screenings and Transports
- 1. The Repatriation Camp in Luisdorf near Odessa
- 2. The Repatriation Camp Sighet in Romania
- 3. The Final Phase of Screening in Luisdorf and Sighet
- 4. Czechoslovak Diplomats in Moscow in Charge of theRepatriation Agenda
- III. The Official Termination of Repatriation and the Epilogue
- 1. Reaction of Czechoslovak Institutions, Numbers and Reports
- 2. The Repatriation Obligations of the USSR and International Diplomacy
- 3. The Return to Czechoslovakia of Deportees and Prisoners from the USSR after the Official Termination of Repatriation
- 4. Other Dimensions of Repatriation Diplomacy
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- 1. Agreement Concerning the Relationship between the Czechoslovak Administration and the Soviet High Command after the Entry of Soviet Troops on Czechoslovak Territory
- 2. The Number of Czechoslovak Citizens Deported and the Number Repatriated at the End of World War II and in the Postwar Period: Estimates in Publications
- 3. Map of Slovakia: Localities from which People were Deported to the Gulag in 1945
- 4. Map of the Soviet Union: Camps to which Czechoslovaks were Deported
- 5. Commentary on the List of Civilians Deported from the Territory of Czechoslovakia to the USSR at the End of World War II
- 6. Overview of Repatriations to Slovakia According to District (to 31 January 1949)
- Notes
- Bibliography, Archival, and Other Sources
- Index of Names and Places
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