Liszka József (szerk.): Az Etnológiai Központ Évkönyve 1999 - Acta Ethnologica Danubiana 1. (Dunaszerdahely-Komárom, 2000)

Tanulmányok - Vareka, Josef: Az Osztrák Monarchia "néprajzi" térképe 1856-ból és Csehország lakosságának mai etnikai alapú önmeghatározása

land has essentially shared the destiny of the whole Czech nation and government. The roots of their joint destiny go back to the first decades of the 11th century during which the Poemyslide State on the territory of Bohemia and Moravia was restored. Essentially, there are not even any distinctions as far the written language is concerned although the various dialects differ but are irrevocably giving way to spoken Czech. The Czech — Moravian boundary does not even consist of either a linguistic or cultural borderline considering that this dividing line from north to south does not comprise any dialectical or cultural (or ethnographic) boundary. Also the inhabitants on both sides of this boundary do not perceive this border as a cultural boundary (actually they do not notice any differences whatsoever between the Czech and Moravian sides) but as a former land boundary. Some of the oldest settlers are still so strongly aware of their territorial appurtenance that the post-World War II abolition of the previous land structure did not suppress them. Assuming that the old cultural boundary remains in Moravia, it should then be found further east beyond the Morava river at the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. This boundary had not only divided the Moravia territory but also the Czech lands into two cultura areas.

The idea of Moravian and Silesian nationalities is pure fiction. Considering that over 13% of the population of the Czech Republic claimed those nationalities in 1991, this meant that certain groups of the population had replaced the surviving Moravian territorial and perhaps even ethnographic consciousness (that is especially strong in Moravia in contrast to Bohemia) with the higher national category. During the self-identification process, a negative role was also undoubtedly played by various irresponsible politicians of the various extremist national parties. The Moravian phenomenon is definitely justified and does not negate the Czech State as history has shown. However, it must not be demagogically abused on the political scene.

Literature

Czoernig, K.

1856-1857 Ethnographie der Oesterreichischen Monarchie. 1-3 (mit einer ethnographischen Karte in vier Blaettern). Ed. Kaiserl. Koenigl. Direction der administrativen Statistik, Wien.

Frolec, V.

1991 Etnografické skupiny a moravanstvl (Ethnographic groups and Moravianism). Jižní Morava, 27, 223-258. p.

Kolejka, J.

1972 „Moravská otázka” v českém národní političkám hnutí druhé poloviny 19. století („The Moravian question” in the Czech national political movement from the second half of the 19lh century). Časopis matice moravské, 91, 102-108. p.

Srb, V.

1992 Pŕedbéžné výsledky sčítání lidu, domú a bytú v ČSFR 1991 (The preliminary results of the 1991 population, home and apartment census in the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic). Český lid, 79, 171-173. p.

Zap, K. W.

1846 Všeobecný Zemepis (Common geography), 1. Praha.

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