Recreating a homeland: Czechoslovak diplomats in Canada during the Second World War

Summary

In the 1920s, immigrants from Czechoslovakia came to Canada in search of industrial work and available land for agriculture. Czechoslovakia’s diplomats in Canada promoted loyalty to Prague’s policies in the hopes that Slovaks and Czechs would unite into a “Czechoslovak” national community, and defend their homeland in the event of a war. During the Second World War, Czechoslovak diplomats lobbied Canadian officials for political recognition to legitimize their efforts to re-establish a postwar Czechoslovak Republic.

by Jan Raska, Ph.D., Historian

In the 1920s, immigrants from Czechoslovakia came to Canada in search of industrial work and available land for agriculture. Czechoslovakia’s diplomats in Canada promoted loyalty to Prague’s policies in the hopes that Slovaks and Czechs would unite into a “Czechoslovak” national community, and defend their homeland in the event of a war. During the Second World War, Czechoslovak diplomats lobbied Canadian officials for political recognition to legitimize their efforts to re-establish a postwar Czechoslovak Republic.

Intrigued? Read Jan Raska’s article, Recreating a homeland: Czechoslovak diplomats in Canada during the Second World War, published in Canadian Slavonic Papers.