Published: 2024-12-23

Polish-Slovak Border Disputes from 1938 to1939 and their Impact on the Life of the Local Highland’ Population

Pavol Matula Logo ORCID

Abstract

The article deals with the impact of the changes in the border between Poland and Slovakia at the end of the 1930s on the population of the affected parts of Spiš, Orava and Kysuce. It traces the international political situation which weakened the position of the Czechoslovak Republic and its internal political problems. It analyses complicated Slovak-Polish relations, which superficially looked friendly, but, eventually deteriorated considerably as a result of the occupation of parts of Spiš, Orava and Kysuce by Poland in autumn 1938 and Slovakia’s passage into the sphere of influence of Nazi Germany in 1939. The consequences of the ‘big politics’ had a considerable impact on everyday life in the affected border area. The paper traces how the consequences were particularly reflected, from the border shift itself to the reactions of the population, availability of basic foodstuffs, lack of transport connections, and the issue of the language teaching or the language of the church to security during the wartime conflict.

Citation rules

Matula, P. (2024). Polish-Slovak Border Disputes from 1938 to1939 and their Impact on the Life of the Local Highland’ Population. Wieki Stare I Nowe, 19(24), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.31261/WSN.2024.24.10

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Vol. 19 No. 24 (2024)
Published: 2025-01-31


ISSN: 1899-1556
eISSN: 2353-9739

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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