{{short description|Ethnic minority in Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1938}}
The '''German-speaking population in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic''', 23.6% of the population at the 1921 census,<ref>{{cite book|last=Rothenbacher|first=Franz|date=2002|title=The European Population 1850–1945|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan, London.|page=145|isbn=978-1-349-65611-0}}</ref> usually refers to the Sudeten Germans, although there were other German ethno-linguistic enclaves elsewhere in Czechoslovakia (e.g. Hauerland or Zips) inhabited by Carpathian Germans (including Zipser Germans or Zipser Saxons), and among the German-speaking urban dwellers there were ethnic Germans and/or Austrians as well as German-speaking Jews. 14% of the Czechoslovak Jews considered themselves Germans in the 1921 census, but a much higher percentage declared German as their colloquial tongue during the last censuses under the Austro-Hungarian Empire.<ref name="encjud">[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_04792.html Czechoslovakia], Encyclopaedia Judaica</ref>
==Carpathian Germans and Sudeten Germans== The terms Carpathian Germans and Sudeten Germans are relatively recent and were not traditionally used in the past. The former was coined by historian and ethnologue {{interlanguage link|Raimund Friedrich Kaindl|de|Raimund Friedrich Kaindl}} in the early 20th century. The latter was coined in 1904 by journalist and politician {{Interlanguage link|Franz Jesser|de|Franz Jesser}} and was used mostly after 1919.
==Historical settlements== There were several subregions and towns with German-speaking absolute or relative majorities in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic. [[File:Czechoslovakia 1930 linguistic map - en.svg|400px|thumb|Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia (1930){{citation needed|date=December 2013}} German-speaking majority in purple (popularly referred to as the Sudetenland)]]
<small>Table. 1921 ethnonational census<ref>Slovenský náučný slovník, I. zväzok, Bratislava-Český Těšín, 1932</ref></small> {| class="wikitable" border="1" !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center width=150| Regions !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center width=100| German-speaking population !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center width=100| % !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center width=100| Total population |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| Bohemia | {{center|2 173 239}} | {{center|32.6%}} | {{center|'''6 668 518'''}} |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| Moravia | {{center|547 604}} | {{center|20.7%}} | {{center|'''2 649 323'''}} |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| Silesia | {{center|252 365}} | {{center|41.9%}} | {{center|'''602 202'''}} |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| Slovakia | {{center|139 900}} | {{center|4.7%}} | {{center|'''2 989 361'''}} |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| Carpathian Ruthenia | {{center|10 460}} | {{center|1.8%}} | {{center|'''592 044'''}} |- |style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left"| '''Czechoslovak Republic''' | {{center|'''3 123 568'''}} | {{center|'''23.3%'''}} | {{center|'''13 410 750'''}} |- |} In Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic), there were German Bohemians (''Deutschböhmen, Čeští Němci'') and German Moravians (''Deutschmährer, Moravští Němci''), as well as German Silesians, in e.g. the Hlučín Region (part of Czech Silesia but formerly part of the Austrian Silesia Province before Seven Years' War in 1756).
In Slovakia there were two German-speaking enclaves in Hauerland and Spiš. In the Austro-Hungarian Szepes County (Spiš), there were according to censuses 35% Germans in 1869, 25% in 1900 and 1910. There was also a relative German-language majority in the border city of Pressburg/Bratislava: 59.9% at the 1890 census, 41.9% in 1910, 36% in 1919, 28.1 in 1930, 20% in 1940.<ref name="Czechreview">{{cite journal|author=Peter Salner |title=Ethnic polarisation in an ethnically homogeneous town |journal=Czech Sociological Review |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=235–246 |year=2001 |url=http://sreview.soc.cas.cz/upl/archiv/files/171_235SALNE.pdf |format=PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227082043/http://sreview.soc.cas.cz/upl/archiv/files/171_235SALNE.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-27 }}</ref>
There were also two linguistic enclaves in Subcarpathian Ruthenia (present-day Ukraine).{{cn|date=August 2025}}
==German-speaking urban Jews== <small>Table. Declared Nationality of Jews in Czechoslovakia</small><ref name="encjud"/> {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Ethnonationality ! 1921,% ! 1930,% |- | Jewish | 53.62 | 57.20 |- | Czechoslovak | 21.84 | 24.52 |- | German | 14.26 | 12.28 |- | Hungarian | 8.45 | 4.71 |- | Others | 1.83 | 1.29 |} In addition, there was a sizeable German-speaking urban Jewish minority, for instance the writers Franz Kafka, Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, and Jewish politicians were elected as deputies, and even as leaders of German minority parties such as Ludwig Czech and Siegfried Taub in the German Social Democratic Workers Party in the Czechoslovak Republic or Bruno Kafka (second cousin of Franz Kafka) in the {{Interlanguage link|German Democratic Freedom Party|de|Deutsche Demokratische Freiheitspartei}}.<ref>''Deutsche Demokratische Freiheitspartei'', ''Německá demokratická svobodomyslná strana''</ref>
{{blockquote|In Moravia and Silesia, like in Bohemia, Jews (ethnic and of faith) mainly resided in towns, but unlike in Bohemia they did not live primarily in large towns. Historically the degree of assimilation into the Czech language environment and culture and the effort to advance this process were significantly different. During the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 82–90% of Jews declared German as they ''[sic]'' colloquial tongue, but during the First Republic a dramatic change occurred, as 47.8% claimed Jewish ethnicity in 1921 and 51.67% in 1930. This fundamental shift in orientation was understandably accompanied by a decline in the share of Jews who identified themselves as ethnic Germans (to around 34–29%)<ref>Ludmila Nesládková, «[http://www.czso.cz/eng/redakce.nsf/i/ludmila_nesladkova:_the_professional_and_social_characteristics_of_the_jewish/$File/Nesl%C3%A1dkov%C3%A1.pdf The Professional and Social Characteristic of the Jewish Population in the First Czechoslovak Republic]», ''Demografie'', 2008, 50 (1), p. 1–14</ref>}}
==German-language education in Czechoslovakia==
===Bohemia=== * German University in Prague (Karl-Ferdinands-Universität), first bilingual, from 1882 to 1945 two separate universities, a German-language and a Czech-language one * German Polytechnic University in Prague, first bilingual, from 1869 to 1945 two separate institutes, a German-language and a Czech-language one, from 1874 on different locations
===Subcarpathian Ruthenia=== In 1936, there were 24 German-language schools in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, grouping 2,021 students.<ref>{{cite book|last=Magocsi|first=Paul|author2=Pop, Ivan|title=Encyclopedia of Rusyn history and culture|publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofru0000mago/page/135 135]–136|isbn=978-0-8020-3566-0|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofru0000mago|url-access=registration|access-date=2012-03-14}}</ref>
==German-language press in Czechoslovakia== thumb|180px|Prager Tagblatt. Front page 1914-07-29 '''in Bohemia''' *''Prager Tagblatt'' (1876-1939) *''Prager Presse'' (1921-1939) semi-official newspaper<ref>Andrea Orzoff, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Bs-dinNob84C&pg=PA73 Battle for the castle: the myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe, 1914-1948]'', Oxford University Press, 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-19-974568-5}}</ref> *Selbstwehr *Jüdische Volksstimme
'''in Slovakia''' *Pressburger Zeitung, then Neue Pressburger Zeitung (1784-1945) (sk) *Westungarischer Grenzbote (1872-1918), then Grenzbote (1919-1945) (eo) *Jüdische Volkszeitung *Israelitisches Familienblatt *Jüdische Presse
'''in Carpathian Ruthenia''' *Jüdische Stimme
==German-language personalities in Czechoslovakia== thumb|140px|Franz Kafka's grave in Prague-Žižkov
===Literature and journalism=== {{div col|colwidth=20em}} *Max Brod *Franz Kafka *Egon Erwin Kisch *František R. Kraus *Leo Perutz *Johannes Urzidil *Felix Weltsch *Franz Werfel {{div col end}}
===Science=== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Johann Böhm, chemist *Pavel Eisner, linguist *Anton Gindely, historian *František Graus, historian *Alfred Kohn, histologist *Karl Kreibich, dermatologist *Gustav Karl Laube (geologist and paleontologist *Arthur Mahler, archeologist *Friedrich Reinitzer, chemist {{div col end}}
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=20em}} *Germans in the Czech Republic *German Bohemia *Demographics of Bratislava {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE394663 Die Selbstwehr (1907-1938)], digitized issues of the weekly periodical published in Prague, at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
{{Ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)}} Category:Sudetenland Category:Ethnic groups in Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Category:Jews and Judaism in Czechoslovakia Category:Czech Republic–Germany relations Category:Germany–Slovakia relations Category:Czechoslovak people of German descent