Pittsburgh Agreement

Last updated
Plaque commemorating the Pittsburgh Agreement Pittsburgh Agreement Creates Czechoslovakia 1918 Plaque in 2004.jpg
Plaque commemorating the Pittsburgh Agreement

The Pittsburgh Agreement was a memorandum of understanding completed on 31 May 1918 between members of Czech and Slovak expatriate communities in the United States of America. It replaced the Cleveland Agreement of October 22, 1915. [1]

Contents

It is named for the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the agreement was made. The agreement prescribed the intent of the cosignatories to create an independent Czechoslovakia. [2] [3] This was achieved on 18 October 1918, when the primary author of the agreement, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, declared the independence of Czechoslovakia. Masaryk was elected the first president of Czechoslovakia in November, 1918.

Background

The historical setting of the Pittsburgh Agreement was the impending dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the months prior to the end of World War I. By September, 1918, it was evident that the forces of the Habsburg monarchy, the rulers of Austria-Hungary, would be vanquished by the Allies: Britain, France and Russia. [4] Between 1860 and 1918, close to one million people of Slovak and Czech ethnicity migrated to the United States and to other nations. At the time, these immigrants were officially recorded as Austrians or Hungarians (Magyars), which did not reflect their actual ethnic origin. [5] However, the United States allowed Czech and Slovak nationalist groups to form and operate. [6] On 22 October 1915, at the Bohemian National Hall on Broadway, Cleveland, Ohio the Slovak League of America and the Bohemian (Czech) National Alliance signed the Cleveland Agreement. With this, the two groups agreed to work together towards a united and independent state for Czechs and Slovaks. [7] Joining the Czech and the Slovak population groups helped the Slovaks break away from the Hungarian state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and created a state with a clear Slavic majority to overcome the large German-speaking population of Bohemia.

Meeting

On Friday, 31 May 1918, a meeting of the Czecho-Slovak National Council under the presidency of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, was called into order at the Loyal Order of Moose Building, 628-634 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Present were representatives of fraternal organizations including the Slovak League of America; [8] the Czech National Federation; the First Slovak Evangelical League and the Association of Czech Catholics. [9] These associations represented immigrants to America from Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Czech Silesia. [10] (Thursday 30 May 1918, the Memorial Day public holiday saw many Czech and Slovak residents of Pittsburgh come downtown to fete Masaryk's arrival). [2]

The signed document bring data 30 May 1918. [11] [ clarification needed ]

Agreement

An agreement was drafted which read:

"1. We approve (sanction) the political program, which endeavors to bring about a Union of the Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state comprising the Czech Lands, (the lands of the Bohemian Crown) and Slovakia.
2. Slovakia will have its own administration, its Diet and its courts.
3. The Slovak language will be the official language in schools and in public life in general (in Slovakia).
4. The Czecho-slovak state will be a republic, its Constitution will be democratic.
5. The organization of the collaboration of the Czechs and the Slovaks in the United States will be amplified and adjusted according to the needs and according to the changing situation, by mutual agreement.
6. Detailed rules concerning the organization of the Czecho-Slovak State are left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives (to establish)." [9]

Signatories

Slovak

Ivan Bielek (1886–1941)

Bielek, born in Slovakia, was vice-president and director of the Czecho Slovak Commercial Corp. of America, an import company founded in 1918.

Michal Bosák (1869–1937)

Bosák, born in Okruhle, Slovakia was a banker and shipping agent who, during World War I, raised funds for the campaign for an independent Slovak nation. [12]

Ivan Daxner (1860–1938)

Daxner was born in Nagykallo, the son of political activist, Stefan Marko Daxner. [6] He became a banker and continued this profession on emigrating to the United States. [13] He became the executive secretary of the Slovak League of America. He said,

"Away from the Magyars, but not into Czech subservience; we want to join Czechs as equals." [14]

Ján Adolf Ferienčík (1863–1925)

Ferienčík [15] [ better source needed ] was the editor of Slovenský hlásnik (Slovak Herald), the weekly publication of the Slavonic Evangelical Union of America. [16]

Matúš Gazdík

Ignác Gessay (1874–1928)

Gessay, born in the Orava region, Slovakia to a peasant family, became a school teacher before emigrating to the United States. In the United States, he worked as a journalist with Ján Pankúch.

Milan Alexander Getting (1878–1951)

Milan Getting was a Slovak journalist and politician and later a diplomat. He emigrated to the United States in 1902. He was a publisher of the newspaper of the Slovak Sokol.

Jozef Hušek (1880–1947)

Husek was born in Okolicne, Slovakia, a Catholic. He emigrated to the USA in 1903 and worked in journalism and the Slovak League of America.

Ján Janček Jr. (1881–1933)

Janček, born in Ruzomberok, Slovakia, was a writer and news editor and later, a politician and the mayor of Ruzomberok.

L. Jozef Karlovský (1887–1964)

Ján Kubašek (1885–1950)

Rev. Kubašek emigrated from Slovakia to Yonkers, the United States in 1902 and was ordained in 1914. He became president of the Association of Slovak Catholics.

Albert Mamatey (1870–1923)

Mamatey, born in Kláštor pod Znievom, Slovakia, was the president of the National Slovak Society and the Slovak League of America. [17] He advocated the preservation of Slovak culture whilst also assisting Slovak immigrants to be well regarded in their new land. [18]

Gejza H. Mika

Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929)

Rev. Murgaš was a Roman Catholic priest born in Tajov, Slovakia. In 1896, he emigrated to the United States to a Slovak parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was a founding member of the Slovak League of America.

Ján Pankúch (1869–1951)

Pankúch emigrated from Slovakia to the United States in 1885 and worked for the Slovak League of America. He was a journalist in Cleveland, Ohio.

Andrej Schustek

Schustek was chairman of the first district of the Slovak League of America. In Chicago, at the second anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia,

"He assured us, the Bohemians, that every Slovak is a sincere brother of ours, a son of one mother - Slovakia. He referred to the frequently overlooked fact that until recently, the Slovaks did not have their own Slovak schools, that ever since childhood they were brought up to hate Bohemians and everything Slavic. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of them are still against us today, especially when they are continually instigated by hired or voluntary agents." [19]

Pavel Šiška

Rev. Šiška was the financial secretary of the Slovak League of America. [20]

Czech

Vojta Beneš (1878–1951)

Beneš was born in Kožlany, as the brother of Edvard Beneš. Vojta Beneš was an organizer of the Bohemian National Alliance of America. In 1917, he published How Bohemians Organised, reflecting the nationalist movement. [21]

Hynek Dostál (1871–1943)

Dostál was the editor of the Hlas newspaper of St. Louis [22] and the editor of the journal of the Saint John Nepomuk Chapel, the first Czech Catholic newspaper in the United States. [23]

Ludvík Fisher (1880–1945)

Fisher was president of the Czech National Alliance.

Innocent Kestl

Rev. Kestl was a Czech Catholic priest who became the vice president of the Czechoslovak National Council. [24]

Josef Martínek (1889–1980)

Martinek, born in Poděbrady (nowadays Palackého street 130), a small town east of Prague, emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio as a metal worker. He became a newspaper editor, socialist and Czech nationalist. [25] [26] [27]

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937)

Masaryk was a member of the Austrian government and a philosopher at the University of Prague. He was key in securing the independence of the Czech people and became president of Czechoslovakia. [28]

Joseph P. Pecivál

Karel Pergler (1882–1954)

Pergler, born in Liblin, Bohemia, emigrated to the United States in childhood. He became a lawyer and a journalist. Pergler was head of the Slav Press Bureau (founded in May, 1918) and was a part of the Bohemian National Alliance and the Bohemian Chapter of the Socialist Party of America. He later became Czechoslovak ambassador to the United States.

B. Simek

Bohumil Shimek was a Czech-American botanist who was active in the campaign for Czechoslovak independence in the United States.

Jan Straka

Oldřich Zlámal (1879–1955)

Rev. Zlámal was born in Korkory, Moravia. He was ordained in the Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio in 1904. [29]

Jaroslav Joseph Zmrhal (1878–1951)

Zmrhal was a principal and superintendent in the Chicago Public Schools system. [30] [31]

Outcome

A Czech provisional government in Paris announced the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence on 18 October 1918.

Archive

A calligraphic lithograph of the agreement was signed after the meeting. On 9 September 2007, the item was donated to the John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. [2] Other copies are archived elsewhere worldwide.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemia</span> Historical region in the Czech Republic

Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohemian kings, including Moravia and Czech Silesia, in which case the smaller region is referred to as Bohemia proper as a means of distinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovakia</span> Country in Central Europe from 1918 to 1992

Czechoslovakia was a landlocked state in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany, while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary, while in the remainder of the Czech Lands, the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudetenland</span> Historical name for areas of Czechoslovakia

The Sudetenland is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia since the Middle Ages. Since the 9th century the Sudetenland had been an integral part of the Czech state both geographically and politically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomáš Masaryk</span> Founding father of Czechoslovakia (1850–1937)

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was a Czechoslovak statesman, political activist and philosopher who served as the first president of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935. He is regarded as the founding father of Czechoslovakia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munich Agreement</span> 1938 cession of German-speaking Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany

The Munich Agreement was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Great Britain, the French Republic, and Fascist Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, where more than three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is also known in some areas as the Munich Betrayal, because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic.

The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 was the culmination of the long struggle of the Czechs against their Austrian rulers and of the Slovaks against Magyarization and their Hungarian rulers.

The First Czechoslovak Republic emerged from the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in October 1918. The new state consisted mostly of territories inhabited by Czechs and Slovaks, but also included areas containing majority populations of other nationalities, particularly Germans (22.95 %), who accounted for more citizens than the state's second state nation of the Slovaks, Hungarians (5.47 %) and Ruthenians (3.39 %). The new state comprised the total of Bohemia whose borders did not coincide with the language border between German and Czech. Despite initially developing effective representative institutions alongside a successful economy, the deteriorating international economic situation in the 1930s gave rise to growing ethnic tensions. The dispute between the Czech and German populations, fanned by the rise of Nazism in neighbouring Germany, resulted in the loss of territory under the terms of the Munich Agreement and subsequent events in the autumn of 1938, bringing about the end of the First Republic.

With the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent country of Czechoslovakia was formed as a result of the critical intervention of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovak Legion</span> Volunteer armed force fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I

The Czechoslovak Legion were volunteer armed forces comprised predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the White Army during the Russian Civil War until November 1919. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force over 100,000 strong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Czechoslovak Republic</span> 1918–1938 republic in Central/Eastern Europe

The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechoslovakia, a compound of Czech and Slovak; which gradually became the most widely used name for its successor states. It was composed of former territories of Austria-Hungary, inheriting different systems of administration from the formerly Austrian and Hungarian territories.

Slovak Americans are Americans of Slovak descent. In the 1990 Census, Slovak Americans made up the third-largest portion of Slavic ethnic groups. There are currently about 790,000 people of Slovak descent living in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Czechoslovak Republic</span> 1938–1939 republic in Central/Eastern Europe

The Second Czechoslovak Republic existed for 169 days, between 30 September 1938 and 15 March 1939. It was composed of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus', the latter being renamed Carpathian Ukraine on 30 December 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Štefan Osuský</span>

Štefan Osuský was an Austro-Hungarian born Slovak lawyer, diplomat, politician and university professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovakism</span> Ideology of close Czech-Slovak relations

Czechoslovakism is a concept which underlines reciprocity of the Czechs and the Slovaks. It is best known as an ideology which holds that there is one Czechoslovak nation, though it might also appear as a political program of two nations living in one common state. The climax of Czechoslovakism fell on 1918-1938, when as a one-nation-theory it became the official political doctrine of Czechoslovakia; its best known representative was Tomáš Masaryk. Today Czechoslovakism as political concept or ideology is almost defunct; its remnant is a general sentiment of cultural affinity, present among many Czechs and Slovaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovak declaration of independence</span> Declaration of independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire

The Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence or the Washington Declaration was drafted in Washington, D.C., and published by Czechoslovakia's Paris-based Provisional Government on 18 October 1918. The creation of the document, officially the Declaration of Independence of the Czechoslovak Nation by Its Provisional Government, was prompted by the imminent collapse of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which the Czech and Slovak lands had been part for almost 400 years, following the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovak National Council</span>

Czechoslovak National Council was an organization founded by Czech and Slovak émigrés during World War I to liberate their homeland from Austria-Hungary. During the closing weeks of the war, the Czechoslovak National Council was formally upgraded to a provisional government and its members were designated to hold top offices in the First Czechoslovak Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Declaration</span> A treaty signed by Slovak politicians to form the country Czecho-Slovakia

The Martin Declaration is the name usually given to the Declaration of the Slovak Nation that was proclaimed in the town of Turčiansky Svätý Martin on 30 October 1918. The declaration was effectively a declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Hungary and presaged Slovakia's unification with the Czech lands as part of the new state of Czechoslovakia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czechoslovakia–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Relations between Czechoslovakia and the United States refer to two periods in Czechoslovakia's history. The first being the establishment of Czechoslovakia after its declaration of independence in 1918 from Austria-Hungary initiated by President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points following World War I. The second period being the communist era from 1948 when relations were strained, until 1992 when Czechoslovakia split forming the independent nations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a result of the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Agreement</span>

The Cleveland Agreement was an agreement signed by representatives of the Czech and Slovak people on October 22, 1915 at the Bohemian National Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. Its purpose was to show commitment to the fight for the self-determination of both Slavic nations in an independent federation, envisioned by Tomáš Masaryk, the founding father of Czechoslovakia.

References

  1. ↑ Sabol, J.T.; Alzo, L.A. (2009). Cleveland Slovaks. Images of America. Arcadia Pub. p. 8. ISBN   978-0-7385-5242-2 . Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Votruba M. "Pittsburgh Agreement" University of Pittsburgh, Slovak Studies Program. Accessed 28 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Pittsburgh Agreement; Slovak Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh". 2021-01-22. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  4. ↑ Stevenson, D. "Cataclysm: The First World War As Political Tragedy", New York: Basic Books (2004) p 380, ISBN   0-465-08184-3, OCLC 54001282
  5. ↑ Sabo G. "Slovaks - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History" Case Western Reserve University. Accessed 3 November 2013.
  6. 1 2 Mahoney, W. "The history of the Czech Republic and Slovakia." The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations. 2011. Google Books. In English. Accessed 30 October 2013
  7. ↑ Burik, Paul. "Cleveland Agreement of 1915". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University . Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Slovak League of America Collection" University of Illinois at Chicago, Special Collections. Accessed 28 October 2013.
  9. 1 2 Grinnel D. "The Pittsburgh Agreement" Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine Penn State University. Western Pennsylvania History. Accessed 28 October 2013
  10. ↑ "The Pittsburgh Agreement" Brookline local history website. Accessed 28 October 2013
  11. ↑ PRECLÍK, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná, CZ) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, ISBN   978-80-87173-47-3, pp.33 - 45, 70 – 96, 110- 157, 159 – 185, 187 - 199
  12. ↑ Bosak R. and M. "Michael Bosak, an American banker from Saris." The Michael Bosnak Society. In English. Accessed 30 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "Ivan Daxner" Narodna Banka Slovenska. Archive website. In Slovenian. Accessed 30 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Špiesz A. and Čaplovič D. "Illustrated Slovak history: A struggle for sovereignty in central Europe" Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2006, p 286. Google Books. In English. Accessed 30 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ján Adolf Ferienčík" Wikipedia. Accessed 3 November 2013.
  16. ↑ "N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual: containing a catalogue of American newspapers, a list of all newspapers of the United States and Canada." 1909, volume 2, p746. University of North Texas digital library. Accessed 30 October 2013.
  17. ↑ Mamatey, A. "The Situation in Austria-Hungary" J. Race Dev. Vol 6 p203. Accessed 29 October 2013.
  18. ↑ Alexander, J. "Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism." Temple University Press. 2008. p57. Accessed 29 October 2013.
  19. ↑ Hlasatel, D. "Yesterday's celebration of the twenty-eighth of October festivals arranged to celebrate second anniversary of Czechoslovak Independence, in Sokol Chicago Hall" 29 October 1920. The Newberry, Foreign Language Press Survey. Accessed 29 October 2013.
  20. ↑ Ference G.C. "Sixteen months of indecision: Slovak American viewpoints toward compatriots and the homeland from 1914 to 1915 as viewed by the Slovak Language Press in Pennsylvania." Susquehanna University Press, 1995. p125. Accessed 30 October 2013.
  21. ↑ Beneš V. "How Bohemians Organised." The Bohemian Review. September, 1917. World War I centennial gallery website: the great war as interpreted in magazine writings. MacDonald J.F. In English. Accessed 2 November 2013.
  22. ↑ Williams C. "Hlas interviews." Meet Charles website. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  23. ↑ Sommer J. "Meet me In historic St. Louis tour - Oct. 2011" Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International website. In English. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  24. ↑ Kestl I. and Kraman F. M. "Památník oslavy 25-letého trvání osady Blahoslavené Anežky České v Chicagu, Ill., 1904-1929" (1929).
  25. ↑ "Martinek, Joseph - Encyclopaedia of Cleveland History." Case Western Reserve University. 2010. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  26. ↑ "Joseph Martinek." Ohio History Central. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  27. ↑ Josef Martínek - birthplace, mapy.cz.
  28. ↑ Ford N. G. "Americans All!: Foreign-Born Soldiers in World War I." Texas A & M University Press. 5 January 2001. In English. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  29. ↑ "Zlamal, Oldrich - Encyclopaedia of Cleveland History." Case Western Reserve University. 2010. Accessed 1 November 2013.
  30. ↑ Kugler J. "Immigrants take over schools: an historical study of minorities influencing educational policy." ProQuest, 2008. p91. Accessed 31 October 2013.
  31. ↑ Zmrhal J. J. "Bohemia. A brief evaluation of Bohemia's contribution to civilisation" Bohemian National Alliance. Chicago, Illinois. 1917. Accessed 2 November 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.