Czechs of Romania

The Czechs (Czech: Češi, Pémové, Romanian: Cehi, Pemi, Hungarian: Bánáti csehek) are an ethnic minority in Romania,[1] numbering 3,938 people according to the 2002 census. The majority of Romanian Czechs live in the south-west of the country, with around 60% of them living in Caraş-Severin County, where they make up 0.7% of the population.

Czechs of Romania (2002 census)

As an officially recognised ethnic minority, Czechs, together with Slovaks, have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies associated within Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania.

History

The Czechs were among the last peoples colonized by the Habsburg Empire in Banat. Their colonization took place in three main waves/stages: 1823, 1827 and 1862, as a consequence of the need to populate the sparsely populated territories, to clear the forests and to ensure, together with the inhabitants of the Romanian villages, the protection of the borders.

Communes with the largest Czech population percentage

1. Dubova, Mehedinți—40.70%
2. Gârnic, Caraș-Severin—33.46%
3. Coronini, Caraș-Severin—27.36%
4. Berzasca, Caraș-Severin—14.24%
5. Şopotu Nou, Caraș-Severin—10.92%
6. Lăpuşnicel, Caraș-Severin—10.75%
7. Socol, Caraș-Severin—4.60%
8. Peregu Mare, Arad—3.83%
9. Eșelnița, Mehedinți—2.31%
10. Orşova, Mehedinți—1.85%

There are six villages with a Czech majority. Five are in Caraș-Severin County: Bigăr, Berzasca Commune; Gârnic, Gârnic Commune; Ravensca, Şopotu Nou Commune; Sfânta Elena, Coronini Commune; and Șumița, Lăpuşnicel Commune. One is in Mehedinți County: Eibenthal, Dubova Commune.

Notable Czech-Romanians

• Ignat Bednarik, painter
• Anton Chladek, painter
• Matilda Cugler-Poni, poet
• Ludovic Dauș, novelist
• Julius Podlipny, painter
• Jan Tausinger, violinist, conductor and composer
• Anton Vorel, herbalist
• Lascăr Vorel, painter

Notes

1. (in Romanian) Alena Gecse and Dezideriu Gecse, "Istoria și cultura cehilor din Banat", in Minorităţi în zonele de contact interetnic. Cehii şi slovacii în România şi Ungaria, p.45-60, ed. Jakab Albert Zsolt and Peti Lehel, Editura Institutului pentru Studierea Problemelor Minorităților Naționale and Editura Kriterion, Cluj-Napoca, 2010, ISBN 978-606-92512-2-5.

See also

• Slovak people in Romania