CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ CZECHOSLOVAKIA: CERTIFICATES AND PASSPORTS OF REFUGEES their own Ukrainian free university 27 or the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy in Poděbrady. There, the number of students kept steadily increasing. 28 The so-called Russian aid operation was an expensive public enterprise prepared by the Czechoslovak government. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commissioned with implementing the operation, did not provide funds directly to the refugees but rather contributed to supporting and philanthropic activities of the organizations that were founded by both Czechoslovak citizens as well as Russian or Ukrainian refugees. These organizations gradually redistributed funds or material benefits to the refugees. The funds obtained by the ministry were from its resources or resources from other chapters of the state budget. The costs of the so-calledRussian aidoperationwere amajor interference in the state budget, especially chapters X, VII, or XXVI. In 1921, when the operation began its development, the ministry spent 10,367,479.74 Czechoslovak crowns (CZK). 29 State expenditures hit their peak in 1924. At that time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cleared 82,865,256.61 CZK. Until 1925, the total sum, including that year, came up to 281,743,142.87 CZK. 30 2.2 Control at frontiers Despite section 2 of the Reception Act no. 11/1918 Coll. from 28 October 1918, 31 which came into force on the same day of promulgation, doubts arose regarding the regulations that became part of the Czechoslovak legal order. The Decree ( výnos ) no. 1978 from 25 January 1919 on the control of travel prescriptions referred to a comprehensive list of applicable normative acts. 32 The decree defined what foreign land means to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. It referred to every territory that was not affiliated to the Czechoslovak state. A non-national was everyone who did not belong to a certain municipality in the territory of the new sovereign state, based on the right of abode. 33 The decree imposed a passport duty upon Czechoslovak nationals: unconditional use of identity documents for travelling. Border police commissariats and their affiliates launched border controls on entering and leaving the country. Customs offices and fiscal guards were also involved in the checks. The decree demanded constant controls at frontiers in the sense of section 1 of the Austrian Ministry Regulation no. 11 of the Reich Code from 15 January 1913. A catalogue of border crossings where it was permitted to cross the frontier was subsequently published in pieces of land legislation. 27 Approximately 1,500 students attended the university in 1923. 28 Starting with 197 Ukrainian students and 7 Belarusian students attended the Academy in the academic year 1922/1923. In the following school year, 309 Ukrainian students were admitted to study. In the school year 1924/1925 there were 443 Ukrainian students. The following school year was attended by 490 Ukrainian students. In the school year 1926/1927, the national composition of the students was as follows: 8 Belarusians, 3 Czechoslovaks, 530 Ukrainians, 32 Ukrainians from Poland and 40 students from the Kuban region. 29 The Czechoslovak crown was instituted by Act no. 84/1919 Coll. 30 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs used 49,704,491.55 Czechoslovak crowns for the purposes of help to Russian and Ukrainian refugees in 1922. The following year it used 65,871,212.35 Czechoslovak crowns. In 1925 the sum of 72,934,706.62 Czechoslovak crowns was reported. 31 Section 2 of the Act on establishment of independent Czechoslovak State: “All existing land and imperial laws and regulations remain valid for now.” 32 Official gazette of the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic , Praha: Státní tiskárna, 1919, ročník I, pp. 39-40. 33 JOACHIM, V. Státní občanství v naší republice podle mírových smluv. Official gazette of the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic, Praha, Státní tiskárna, 1919, ročník I, pp. 257-259.

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