CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECTS OF CZECHOSLOVAK MINORITIES Czechoslovakia and Poland signed the Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Aid and the Additional Protocol to this Treaty which reads inter alia as follows: The High Contracting Parties (…) agree (…) to guarantee to Poles in Czecho- slovakia and to Czechs and Slovaks in Poland, within the limits of law and on the basis of reciprocity, the possibility of national, political, cultural and economic development (schools, societies and co-operatives on the basis of the unity of co-operative organizations in Poland and in Czechoslovakia) 55 . This Protocol settled the question of the Czech and Slovak minority in Poland and the Polish minority in Czechoslovakia in a way different than by a transfer of the population. Two later Protocols were concluded later with respect to Polish citizens in Czechoslovakia. The first one is the Protocol between the Czechoslovak Republic and Poland on the Resettlement of Persons of Polish Nationality from the Humenné Region of 18 September 1948, 56 and the second Protocol between the Czechoslovak Republic and Poland on the Resettlement of Persons of Polish Nationality from Eastern Slovakia to Poland. 57 To sum up, these measures adopted by Czechoslovakia after the Second World War significantly reduced the number of German and Hungarian minorities in the Czechoslovak territory and started the regulation of the minority questions on the bilateral basis (with Poland). The post war regulation of minorities in Czechoslovakia With the results mentioned above and the tragic experiences of the Czech and Slovak nations during the SecondWorldWar, the negative roles of the German and Hungarian minorities with their active support of German and Hungarian fascists, as well as the conclusions reached in the Potsdam agreement radically changed the approach of Czechoslovakia to the fate of minorities in the post-war period. The German and Hungarian question was dealt with in the Košice Government program of 5 April 1945 (Chapter VIII, XI, and XV) and regarding the next fate of minorities in Czechoslovakia, president Beneš clearly underlined that: After this war there will be no minority rights in the spirit of the old system which began after the First World War. After punishing all the delinquents who committed crimes against the state, the overwhelming majority of the Germans and Hungarian must leave Czechoslovakia. This is our resolute standpoint (…) Our people cannot live with the Germans and Hungarians in our Fatherland. 58 The first post-war Czechoslovak Constitution of 5 May 1948 therefore did not contain any mention with respect to national minorities because its Article II/1 expressly declared that: “The Czechoslovak Republic is a unitary state of two Slav Nations possessing equal rights, the Czechs and Slovaks.” 59 This provision reflects the idea of Czechoslovakia as a national state “rid of all hostile elements”. 60 All citizens were equal before the law and had the same rights 55 See UN Doc. E/CN.4/367, p. 50. 56 Not published in Collection of Laws. 57 Not published in Collection of Laws. 58 Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak%E2%80%93Hungarian_population_exchange. 59 Published under Act No. 150/1948 Collection of Laws. 60 § 9 of the Preamble of the 1948 Constitution of Czechoslovakia. According to M. Franck: “Although in 1919 there was a general desire to see in the successor states of Central and Eastern Europe an overall reduction in the

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