UKRAJINCI V ČESKÉ REPUBLICE: MEZI NÁRODNOSTNÍ MENŠINOU A MIGRANTY

Abstract

Ukrainians have lived in the Czech Republic for more than a hundred years, but in recent years their number has been growing every year. The article examines the modern Ukrainian organized community in the Czech Republic, which was formed during several waves of emigration, and clarifies the conditions and circumstances under which they have come here. These circumstances changed periodically and were both internal and external both in Ukraine and the Czech Republic. For the Czech Republic, the situation changed especially in 2004 after joining the EU, and for Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity and its consequences in 2014. Of course, historical, geographical, socio-political and educational reasons have always played an important role in the migration of Ukrainians to the Czech Republic, and these reasons are discussed in detail in the article. Since the early 1990s, there have been tens of thousands of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic, mostly descendants of early twentieth-century migrants. At the beginning of 2021, there are already more than two hundred thousand people of Ukrainian origin who temporarily or permanently reside in the Czech Republic. The monoethnic Czech Republic has changed significantly since the early 1990s, when 97% of the population identified themselves as Czechs. According to the 2011 census, just over 64% of the population identified themselves as a member of the titular ethnic group, and almost a quarter did not answer this question. Migration processes played a significant role in this issue. The Czech Republic began to accept immigrants from around the world on an ever-increasing scale, and Ukrainians were one of the largest groups of immgrants. All Ukrainians can be divided into those who consider themselves as such on the basis of nationality (but citizens of the Czech Republic) or politically (citizenship of Ukraine), and of course this affects their status in this country. The community of many thousands of Ukrainians cannot go unnoticed in the life of the Czech Republic, so it is beginning to integrate intensively into Czech society. If earlier Ukrainians were considered by the Czechs more as cheap laborers, now more and more Ukrainians can be seen in almost all spheres of life in most administrative-territorial units of the country and most often in the capital Prague. The inclusion of Ukrainians in the life of communities is facilitated by the activities of public organizations that take measures to support Ukrainian identity, language, culture as well as legal, educational and social support.