Petr Kaleta

This study describes and analyzes Czech polonophile Edvard Jelínek’s relationship with the city of Cracow as reflected in his books and articles. Jelínek had extensive contacts in Cracow with leading representatives of Polish literature and culture (such as Władysław Anczyc, Adam Asnyk, Michał Bałucki and Adam Honory Kirkor), through whom he gained access to important city institutions and landmarks. After Warsaw, Cracow was Jelínek’s favorite Polish city, and he mentioned it in many of his writings. Jelínek also published several articles in the local press and, as a capable organizer of Czech–Polish cultural and scientific events, he contributed greatly to an 1884 pilgrimage to Cracow, under the auspices of Kolín’s Sokol, that was undertaken by more than 1,300 Czechs. 

The Czechs In East Galicia In The 19^th Century: Society, Economics, Culture

Czech society in East Galicia in the 19^th century was represented primarily by bureaucrats, but also by military officers and many other professions who settled there, such as entrepreneurs and craftsmen. Soon, however, the (often true) stereotype of the self-confident Czech bureaucrat was formed, above all in Polish society, a stereotype of the diligent Austrian citizen, for whom the national activities of Polish society were foreign and with whom it was not possible to discuss Slavic cooperation. The center of Czech national and cultural life was the group of bureaucrats and teachers who gathered in an informal circle, the chair of which was František Jáchym, in Lviv. For the 19^th century, we do not have exact information on the number of Czechs living in Galicia – the available statistics provide the numbers of predominant ethnicities, which is why we can base our estimates on the data on the languages used in 1900, when 9,014 Czech-speakers were registered. Together with the teachers, the bureaucratic class played a decisive role in the maintenance of Czech national and cultural traditions. Galicia was popularized most strikingly by Karel Vladislav Zap, the author of the book Trips and Walks through the Galician Land (Prague 1844), who worked as a bureaucrat there for nine years. Czech agricultural workers also made up a significant group. František Řehoř, who was known for his ethnographic research on the local Rusyn community, also came to Galicia as a part of the agricultural migration. The field in which many Czechs in Galicia gained recognition was music. Czechs were employed there as private music teachers, as members of municipal music groups and theater orchestras, as musicians in cafes and also as music teachers, conductors and members of theater philharmonics. The Česká beseda in Lviv, which had 300 members in 1914, became the center of cultural and social life of the Czechs in East Galicia beginning in 1867.