Slovaks in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
( de-AT, Österreichisch Slowaken; sk, Rakúski Slováci) have a history dating back to the early centuries of the Common Era. Currently, there are 35,326 Slovaks in Austria as of 2016. Large communities of Slovaks can be found in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
, with a smaller community in
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
.
History
Prior to the 20th century
Between the fifth and ninth centuries AD, Slovaks controlled the eastern part of what is now considered
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
, where many ethnic Slovaks still remain.
From the 1880s the 1890s, around 230,000
Czechs
The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...
and
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...
emigrated to Austria proper, mainly for construction work and other menial labor jobs in the larger cities, particularly
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. At the turn of the century, an estimated 70,000 Slovak speakers in Austria, the vast majority being concentrated in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Marchfeld. Over the next 14 years, this number was decimated to 20,000.
Modern history
After the foundation of
Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, many Slovaks emigrated back to the
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
region. In the 1923 census, only 5,000 Slovacophones declared their language.
In 1976, as part of the Treaties of St. German and Brno and the Austrian Ethnic Groups Act, Slovaks were recognized as an autochthonous ethnicity, and freedom to use the Slovak language officially was permitted.
In recent years, many thousands of Slovaks have emigrated from Slovakia, mainly due to the open borders of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. The population of Slovaks had increased by 800% in 2016.
Notable Slovak Austrians
*
Carl Ludwig Doleschall Carl Ludwig Doleschall ( hu, Doleschall Lajos; sk, Karol Ľudovít Doležal; born 15 July 1827 – died 26 February 1859) was born in Vág-Újhely, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Slovakia), as the son of the theolo ...
, scientist
*
Jan Jesenius
Jan Jesenius, also written as Jessenius (german: Johannes Jessenius, hu, Jeszenszky János, sk, Ján Jesenský; December 27, 1566 – June 21, 1621), was a Bohemian physician, politician and philosopher.
Life Early years
He was from an old nobl ...
, physician and professor of anatomy
*
Konstantin Jireček
Konstantin Josef Jireček (24 July 1854 10 January 1918) was an Austro-Hungarian Czech historian, politician, diplomat, and Slavist. He was the founder of Bohemian Balkanology (or Balkan Studies) and Byzantine studies, and wrote extensively o ...
, politician and Slavist
*
Boris Prokopič
Boris Prokopič (born 29 March 1988) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brühl in the Swiss third-tier Promotion League. Born in what is now Slovakia, Prokopič was a youth international for Austria.
Career
Prokopić began his care ...
, footballer for
SC Rheindorf Altach
Sportclub Rheindorf Altach, also known as Rheindorf Altach, SCR Altach or simply SCRA, is an Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently also known as CASHP ...
*
Ludwig Schwarz
Ludwig Schwarz, S.D.B. (born 4 June 1940) is the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Linz, Austria.
Life
Ludwig Schwarz was the first of nine children and grew up in Most pri Bratislave. After the expulsion of his family from Slovakia in 1945, ...
, bishop of the
Diocese of Linz
The Diocese of Linz ( la, Dioecesis Linciensis) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria.
History
Early history
In the early Middle Ages the greater part of the territory of the present Diocese of Linz was subject to the bishops of ...
*
Tomáš Šimkovič
Tomáš Šimkovič (born 16 April 1987) was an Austrian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Latvian club RFS.
Career
On 1 February 2014, Šimkovič signed a two-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Tobol.
On 17 June 2017, ...
, footballer for
FC Tobol
FC Tobol ( kk, Тобыл футбол клубы, Tobyl Futbol Kluby) is a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Kostanay. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992. They ...
*
Thomas Vanek, ice hockey player for the
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
's
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...
See also
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Austria–Slovakia relations
The 1955 Austrian State Treaty ended the four-power occupation and recognized Austria as an independent and sovereign state. In October 1955, the Federal Assembly passed a constitutional law in which "Austria declares of her own free will her ...
*
Slovak diaspora
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Immigration to Austria
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Austria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Austr ...
References
{{Portal bar, Austria, Slovakia
Ethnic groups in Austria
Slovak diaspora
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