CLAIMS TO ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND CHURCH PROPERTY IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN 1920s–1930s. ON HISTORY OF “RESORT” CHURCHES IN CARLSBAD, MARIENBAD AND FRANZENSBAD

The paper discusses the so-called resort churches in Czechoslovakia, which before the First World War served Russians who came for treatment to Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), Marienbad (Mariánské Lázně) and Franzensbad (Františkovy Lázně), and after the war formed parishes of representatives of the Russian Orthodox emigration. The property of the Orthodox Russian Church Abroad after 1918 in all countries of the Russian diaspora was subject to various claims from local government structures or the Soviet government (through representatives of the Renovated Church). New political and religious organizations laid claim to it as well. In Fund R-6343 of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, there is a collection of documents entitled “The Case of the Status of Russian Orthodox Parishes in Czechoslovakia” containing information about Russian churches in this country, whose property (buildings, land, utensils, libraries, etc.) was also subjected to attempts at nationalization.