Migration History
Ethnic Germans form a minority of the residents in Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. They are mostly descendants of those Sudeten Germans who were not expelled after World War II (officially all anti-Nazis could stay, the reality was often different). However, neither the Czech government nor the majority of Germans there still see themselves as Sudeten Germans. After the Second World War, the Germans were under great pressure to assimilate to general Czech society; as a result, many members of this group, especially the younger generation, are now completely assimilated.
According to the Czech censuses, the number of self-identified Germans in the Czech Republic fell from 160,000 in 1950 to under 40,000 by 2001. Over the decades, many older Germans died, and the younger generations grew up often speaking only Czech. In addition, when Germans married Czechs, their children were almost always counted as Czech in the census. Lastly, as many Czechs carry German surnames, the assimilated Germans are not particularly noticeable.
Read more about this topic: Germans In The Czech Republic
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)