CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

DALIBOR JÍLEK CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ The passport statute established the legal framework for issuing certificates of identity in accordance with international arrangements with regards to Russian and Armenian refugees of 5 July 1922, 31 May 1924, 12 May 1926, and 30 June 1928. The Czechoslovakian diplomacy decided to accede to these arrangements that were recommendatory nature in 1929. As was common in Czechoslovak passport practice, the implementing instruction adopted in the form of a circular of the Ministry of Interior of December 1929 comprised the specific conditions for issuing these certificates. Russian and Ukrainian Diaspora Since its creation, the Czechoslovak state 1 had maintained an amiable but moderate hospitality towards war refugees. War refugees from Bukovina and Halíč (Galicia – Eastern Europe) found safe haven in its territory. Before the outbreak of World War I, these refugees had enjoyed the right of abode or home affiliation to the municipality 2 of the stated regions of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy or they had a permanent residence there. They primarily resided in the Silesia territory during the armed conflict. As soon as the conditions in Bukovina and Halíč were satisfactory, the Ministry of Interior decided to repatriate them. 3 The immediate repatriation of the Bukovina and Halíč (Galicia – Eastern Europe) refugees was of general character. The Ministry of Interior manifested humanity as a moral value in enforcement principles. The Czechoslovak authorities maintained leniency towards juvenile orphans, secondary school pupils, and university students. The exception did not apply to their parents or close relatives; these had to leave the newly established republic. Just as well, their return could have been postponed based on a permit issued by a competent authority, as long as the state of health of the war refugee did not allow for return transport. Authorities treated Bukovian and Halíč traders and merchants in the same manner, so that they had time to conclude their commercial obligations in the place of their residency. Transports of special trains were made ready for the war refugees, heading to their mother villages and towns. Russian soldiers interned in Czechoslovakia were, similarly, gradually repatriated in 1919. The same applied to Ukrainian soldiers interned in Trans Carpathian Ukraine. Another group that detached itself from Russia soon after the October coup d’état of 1917 were the members of the nobility and the bourgeoisie closely linked to the Tsar’s autocracy ( tsarskoye samoderzhaviye ). Indeed, the number of aristocrats and capitalists was not great. Together they were characterized by dependable financial security. Moreover, there was the addition of former prisoners of war in the territory of the new state that refused to go back to Russia. As soon as November 1920, the Czechoslovak Ministry 1 The Supreme Administrative Court stated in the case 4407, 16 October 1919 (B. F. sv. I, č. 114): “The state power of the Czechoslovak Republic, however, rose from a coup d’état of 28 October 1918. On that day, the National Committee ( Národní výbor ) de facto took state power, merging all the highest state power in all its functions in its hands and thus becoming the holder of the legislative power in the new state; this remained for as long as the Law on the Provisional Constitution of 13 November 1918 came into force, no. 37 Coll.” 2 LAŠTOVKA, K. Domovské právo. HÁCHA, E., HOBZA, A., HOETZEL, J., WEYR, F., LAŠTOVKA, K. Slovník veřejného práva československého . Svazek I, A až CH. Brno: Polygrafia – Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1929, p. 434: “Home affiliation is the personal legal relationship of a person to a certain municipality that has the right to undisturbed stay in the municipality and to social care (…).” 3 Decree of the Minister of Foreign Affairs no. 49.402/16, 23 October 1919 on repatriation of war refugees from Bukovina, Halič and Poland. Official gazette of the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic (Věstník ministerstva vnitra republiky Československé), Praha: Státní tiskárna, ročník I, p. 264. 2.

40