Česká prítomnosť v Košiciach v rokoch 1918 – 1938. Rozbor dokumentov z mimokošických archívov

The aim of the study is to analyse historical sources preserved in archives outside Košice that document the arrival and presence of Czechs in the city during the interwar period in Czechoslovakia. The focus is on official communication between local institutions (public administration, security forces, associations) and the centres of political power at the time, located in Prague and Bratislava, supplemented by archival records of Czech individuals who spent part of their lives in Košice. The arrival of a significant number of Czechs in Košice was met with strong opposition from the majority of the local population, which was politically and culturally connected to the Hungarian state, and was also influenced by the absence of an educated Slovak middle class. People from the Czech lands faced an asymmetrical process of integration. They came with the aim of integrating multiethnic Košice into the Czechoslovak state, but their own integration into the urban environment encountered obstacles that were difficult to overcome. The professionalisation of the security forces, urban development, modernisation of the health system, establishment of Slovak national education, and the flourishing of social life are all areas in which the Czech presence in interwar Košice played a key role.