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102-415: Jablonec nad Nisou is made up of eight city parts: Jablonec nad Nisou, Jablonecké Paseky, Kokonín, Lukášov, Mšeno nad Nisou, Proseč nad Nisou, Rýnovice and Vrkoslavice. The name Jablonec is of Czech origin and means 'little apple tree' ( jablonče was a diminutive of the old Czech jabloň – 'apple tree'), for the village was founded on a place where an apple tree grew. German-speaking settlers who came to

204-484: A Decree 100 nationalization decision was made by someone other than the minister the nationalization was invalid and subject to legal challenge. While hearing appeals of court decisions dealing with Decree 12 confiscations, the Constitutional Court held that courts must decide whether a confiscation decision was motivated by persecution and a decree used as a pretext. This applied to cases of those who remained in

306-660: A delegated minister. The decrees' validity was subject to later ratification by the National Assembly. Beginning on September 1, 1944 (after the Slovak National Uprising ) the Slovak National Council (SNR) held legislative and executive power in Slovakia, later differentiating between statewide acts and other regulations; presidential decrees were valid in Slovakia only if they explicitly mentioned agreement by

408-617: A distinction between phonemic /l/ and /ʎ/ which survives in Slovak. With the beginning of the national revival of the mid-18th century, Czech historians began to emphasize their people's accomplishments from the 15th through 17th centuries, rebelling against the Counter-Reformation (the Habsburg re-catholization efforts which had denigrated Czech and other non- Latin languages). Czech philologists studied sixteenth-century texts and advocated

510-501: A dozen additional counties in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, North Dakota and Minnesota . As of 2009, 70,500 Americans spoke Czech as their first language (49th place nationwide, after Turkish and before Swedish ). Standard Czech contains ten basic vowel phonemes , and three diphthongs. The vowels are /a/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /o/, and /u/ , and their long counterparts /aː/, /ɛː/, /iː/, /oː/ and /uː/ . The diphthongs are /ou̯/, /au̯/ and /ɛu̯/ ;

612-589: A lesser extent) Slovakia. However, since the two countries were expected to become members of the European Union the issue was moot. Liechtenstein did not recognize Slovakia until 9 December 2009. Prime Minister Miloš Zeman said that the Czechs would not consider repealing the decrees because of an underlying fear that doing so would open the door to demands for restitution. According to Time , former Czech foreign minister Jan Kavan said: "Why should we single out

714-561: A more-restricted distinction between "hard" and "soft" consonants (see Phonology below). The term "Old Czech" is applied to the period predating the 16th century, with the earliest records of the high medieval period also classified as "early Old Czech", but the term "Medieval Czech" is also used. The function of the written language was initially performed by Old Slavonic written in Glagolitic , later by Latin written in Latin script . Around

816-514: A realistic chance of returning as a major language. However, Josef Jungmann and other revivalists used Dobrovský's book to advocate for a Czech linguistic revival. Changes during this time included spelling reform (notably, í in place of the former j and j in place of g ), the use of t (rather than ti ) to end infinitive verbs and the non-capitalization of nouns (which had been a late borrowing from German). These changes differentiated Czech from Slovak. Modern scholars disagree about whether

918-506: A result, almost all ethnic Germans and Hungarians, some of whom had ancestors who had lived in Czechoslovakia for centuries prior to World War II , or those who had settled there during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia , lost their Czechoslovak citizenship and property. The state then expelled them from their homes . Some of them died during the expulsion process which took place during

1020-463: A review would lack legal purpose and cast doubt on the principle of legal certainty (an essential principle of democracies adhering to the rule of law ). Although under Decrees 12 and 108 confiscations were automatic on the basis of the decrees themselves, Decree 100 (nationalization of large enterprises) required a formal decision by the Minister of Industry. According to the Constitutional Court, if

1122-484: A slow rise from low to high, quickly dropping to low on the last word or phrase. In modern Czech syntax, adjectives precede nouns, with few exceptions. Relative clauses are introduced by relativizers such as the adjective který , analogous to the English relative pronouns "which", "that" and "who"/"whom". As with other adjectives, it agrees with its associated noun in gender, number and case. Relative clauses follow

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1224-680: A swimming pool, three football and athletic stadiums, and an ice hockey arena. The city is represented by FK Jablonec in the Czech First League . The club has been a stable member of the league since 1994. Before the World War II, a number of ethnic German football clubs existed in Gablonz, Fortuna , DSK and BSK . These were merged into NSTG Gablonz in 1939 by the Nazis, NSTG standing for Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde . NSTG played in

1326-474: A verb; information about its subject is encoded in the verb. Enclitics (primarily auxiliary verbs and pronouns) appear in the second syntactic slot of a sentence, after the first stressed unit. The first slot can contain a subject or object, a main form of a verb, an adverb, or a conjunction (except for the light conjunctions a , "and", i , "and even" or ale , "but"). Czech syntax has a subject–verb–object sentence structure. In practice, however, word order

1428-513: Is twinned with: Czech language Czech ( / tʃ ɛ k / CHEK ; endonym : čeština [ˈtʃɛʃcɪna] ), historically also known as Bohemian ( / b oʊ ˈ h iː m i ə n , b ə -/ boh- HEE -mee-ən, bə- ; Latin : lingua Bohemica ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group , written in Latin script . Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as

1530-612: Is a member of the West Slavic sub-branch of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. This branch includes Polish , Kashubian , Upper and Lower Sorbian and Slovak . Slovak is the most closely related language to Czech, followed by Polish and Silesian . The West Slavic languages are spoken in Central Europe. Czech is distinguished from other West Slavic languages by

1632-564: Is a recognized minority language in Slovakia, Slovak citizens who speak only Czech may communicate with the government in their language in the same way that Slovak speakers in the Czech Republic also do. Immigration of Czechs from Europe to the United States occurred primarily from 1848 to 1914. Czech is a Less Commonly Taught Language in U.S. schools, and is taught at Czech heritage centers. Large communities of Czech Americans live in

1734-422: Is also relevant to the declension patterns of nouns, which vary according to whether the final consonant of the noun stem is hard or soft. Voiced consonants with unvoiced counterparts are unvoiced at the end of a word before a pause, and in consonant clusters voicing assimilation occurs, which matches voicing to the following consonant. The unvoiced counterpart of /ɦ/ is /x/. The phoneme represented by

1836-427: Is an area that includes the cities of Liberec and Jablonec nad Nisou and their surroundings, linked to the cities by commuting and migration. It has about 227,000 inhabitants. Jablonec nad Nisou shares the tramway line which connects it to its neighbouring city of Liberec . The city is located on the railway line from Liberec to Szklarska Poręba . The territory is served by four stations and stops. Jablonec has

1938-559: Is called New Town Hall and is located on Mírové Square. It is a functionalistic building, built in 1930–1933. It is an excellent example of interwar modern architecture. For its value, it has been protected as a national cultural monument since 2024. There are several churches in the city: Church of Saint Anne (built in the Baroque style in 1865–1867), Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (a brick building, built 1930–1931), Church of

2040-432: Is flexible and used to distinguish topic and focus , with the topic or theme (known referents) preceding the focus or rheme (new information) in a sentence; Czech has therefore been described as a topic-prominent language . Although Czech has a periphrastic passive construction (like English), in colloquial style, word-order changes frequently replace the passive voice. For example, to change "Peter killed Paul" to "Paul

2142-678: Is one of the EU's official languages and the 2012 Eurobarometer survey found that Czech was the foreign language most often used in Slovakia. Economist Jonathan van Parys collected data on language knowledge in Europe for the 2012 European Day of Languages . The five countries with the greatest use of Czech were the Czech Republic (98.77 percent), Slovakia (24.86 percent), Portugal (1.93 percent), Poland (0.98 percent) and Germany (0.47 percent). Czech speakers in Slovakia primarily live in cities. Since it

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2244-575: Is realized as its voiceless allophone [r̝̊], a sound somewhere between Czech r and š . The consonants /r/, /l/, and /m/ can be syllabic , acting as syllable nuclei in place of a vowel. Strč prst skrz krk ("Stick [your] finger through [your] throat") is a well-known Czech tongue twister using syllabic consonants but no vowels. Each word has primary stress on its first syllable , except for enclitics (minor, monosyllabic, unstressed syllables). In all words of more than two syllables, every odd-numbered syllable receives secondary stress. Stress

2346-475: Is situated at the confluence of the rivers Lusatian Neisse and Bílá Nisa. The Mohelka River originates in Jablonec nad Nisou-Kokonín. The Mšeno Reservoir in the city belongs to the largest inner city areas in Europe. It was built in 1906–1909 and has an area of around 42 ha (100 acres). The first written mention of Jablonec was in a Latin document from 1356 as Jablonecz . According to this document, Jablonec

2448-499: Is unrelated to vowel length; both long and short vowels can be stressed or unstressed. Vowels are never reduced in tone (e.g. to schwa sounds) when unstressed. When a noun is preceded by a monosyllabic preposition, the stress usually moves to the preposition, e.g. do Prahy "to Prague". Czech grammar, like that of other Slavic languages, is fusional ; its nouns, verbs, and adjectives are inflected by phonological processes to modify their meanings and grammatical functions, and

2550-541: The Gauliga Sudetenland but disappeared with the end of the war. BSK however was reformed in 1950 in Bavaria, under the name of BSK Neugablonz . The historical city centre is formed by squares Dolní, Mírové, Horní, and Anenské, which lies close to each other, and their surroundings. The Old Town Hall with a typical square tower was built on Dolní Square in 1867–1869. Today it serves as a library. The current city hall

2652-549: The German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II . They were issued by President Edvard Beneš from 21 July 1940 to 27 October 1945 and retroactively ratified by the Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia on 6 March 1946. The decrees dealt with various aspects of the restoration of Czechoslovakia and its legal system, denazification , and reconstruction of the country. In journalism and political history,

2754-706: The Kralice Bible between 1579 and 1593 (the first complete Czech translation of the Bible from the original languages) became very important for standardization of the Czech language in the following centuries as it was used as a model for the standard language. In 1615, the Bohemian diet tried to declare Czech to be the only official language of the kingdom. After the Bohemian Revolt (of predominantly Protestant aristocracy) which

2856-591: The Kremnica Mint , is now in Slovakia). The city has a long tradition of costume jewelry and beads production. The biggest industrial employers with headquarters in the city are Preciosa (glass products manufacturer) are TI Automotive AC (production of car air conditioners). The Liberec-Jablonec agglomeration was defined as a tool for drawing money from the European Structural and Investment Funds . It

2958-603: The Leskovec-Dresden Bible , also dates to this period. Old Czech texts, including poetry and cookbooks, were also produced outside universities. Literary activity becomes widespread in the early 15th century in the context of the Bohemian Reformation . Jan Hus contributed significantly to the standardization of Czech orthography , advocated for widespread literacy among Czech commoners (particularly in religion) and made early efforts to model written Czech after

3060-488: The Thirty Years' War , Jablonec was burned down for the second time. Glass production began to flourish in the second half of the 17th century and Jablonec began to develop rapidly. In the 18th century, the first bijou was produced and the first exporter, J. F. Schwann, spread the villages's name throughout Europe. Jablonec was promoted to a market town by Emperor Francis II on 21 April 1808. Further development followed

3162-610: The United Nations Human Rights Committee , under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , reviewed a communication submitted by Josef Bergauer et al. The committee held that the covenant became effective in 1975 and its protocol in 1991. Since the covenant could not be applied retroactively, the committee held that the communication was inadmissible. After

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3264-727: The high medieval period, and the standardization of Czech and Slovak within the Czech–Slovak dialect continuum emerged in the early modern period. In the later 18th to mid-19th century, the modern written standard became codified in the context of the Czech National Revival . The most widely spoken non-standard variety , known as Common Czech, is based on the vernacular of Prague , but is now spoken as an interdialect throughout most of Bohemia . The Moravian dialects spoken in Moravia and Czech Silesia are considerably more varied than

3366-406: The voiced velar fricative consonant (/ɣ/) and consistent stress on the first syllable. The Bohemian (Czech) language is first recorded in writing in glosses and short notes during the 12th to 13th centuries. Literary works written in Czech appear in the late 13th and early 14th century and administrative documents first appear towards the late 14th century. The first complete Bible translation ,

3468-520: The 1920 constitution, they were considered necessary by the Czechoslovak wartime and postwar authorities. On ratification by the Interim National Assembly, they became binding laws with retroactive validity and attempted to preserve Czechoslovak legal order during the occupation. Most of the decrees were abolished by later legislation (see the list below) or became obsolete by having served their purpose. Note: This list includes only decrees published in

3570-515: The 7th century, the Slavic expansion reached Central Europe, settling on the eastern fringes of the Frankish Empire . The West Slavic polity of Great Moravia formed by the 9th century. The Christianization of Bohemia took place during the 9th and 10th centuries. The diversification of the Czech-Slovak group within West Slavic began around that time, marked among other things by its use of

3672-657: The Beneš Decrees? ... They belong to the past and should stay in the past. Many current members of the E.U. had similar laws." In 2009 eurosceptic Czech president Václav Klaus demanded an opt-out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union , feeling that the charter would render the Beneš decrees illegal. In 2010, when Masaryk University erected a statue to Edvard Beneš, local journalist Michael Kašparek criticized

3774-463: The Beneš decrees be repealed as a precondition for both countries' entrance to the European Union. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy eventually decided not to press the issue. In 2003 Liechtenstein , supported by Norway and Iceland , blocked an agreement about extending the European Economic Area because of the Beneš decrees and property disputes with the Czech Republic and (to

3876-577: The Bohemian king Otokar II during the 13th century or the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin at the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries. Loss of Czechoslovak citizenship was addressed in Decree 33 (see description above). Under article three of the decree, those who lost their citizenship could request its restoration within six months of the decree's promulgation and requests would be assessed by

3978-551: The Czech Republic during the postwar era. In Slovakia, some measures incorrectly called "Beneš decrees" were not presidential decrees but ordinances by the Slovak National Council (SNR). The confiscation of the agricultural property of Germans, Hungarians, traitors and enemies of the Slovak nation was not enforced by the Beneš decrees, but by the Ordinance of the SNR 104/1945; punishment of fascist criminals, occupiers, traitors and collaborators

4080-551: The Czech Republic. According to the applicants, "after the Second World War, they were expelled from their homeland in genocidal circumstances", their property was confiscated by Czechoslovak authorities, the Czech Republic failed to suspend the Beneš Decrees and had not compensated them. The court held that the expropriation took place long before the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights with respect to

4182-440: The Czech Republic. Since Article 1 of Protocol 1 does not guarantee the right to acquire property, although the Beneš Decrees remained part of Czech law the applicants had no claim under the convention against the Czech Republic to recover the confiscated property. According to the court, "it should be further noted that the case-law of the Czech courts made the restitution of property available even to persons expropriated contrary to

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4284-766: The Czechoslovak Republic, they had not committed an offense against the Czech and Slovak nation, and that they had either actively participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia or were subjected to Nazi or fascist terror. At the same time, Art 1(3) covered any persons notwithstanding ethnicity, including Czechs and Slovaks. Some 250,000 Germans, some anti-fascists exempted under the Decrees and others considered crucial to industry , remained in Czechoslovakia. Many ethnic German anti-fascists emigrated under an agreement drawn up by Alois Ullmann . Some of those affected held land settled by their ancestors since their invitation by

4386-674: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (built in the Art Nouveau style in 1900–1902; one of the most important sacral Art Nouveau buildings in Europe), and Protestant Dr. Farský Church (a pseudo-Gothic building from 1892). The tradition of costume jewellery production is presented in the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewellery. It was founded in 1904 and it is located in an Art Nouveau building. Jablonec nad Nisou

4488-597: The Fund for National Restoration. The Beneš decrees are associated with the 1945–47 deportation of about 3 million ethnic Germans and Hungarians from Czechoslovakia. The deportation, based on Article 12 of the Potsdam Agreement , was the outcome of negotiations between the Allied Control Council and the Czechoslovak government. The expulsion is considered ethnic cleansing (a term in widespread use since

4590-605: The Germans were expelled under the terms of Beneš decrees . After the war, the expelled German-speaking citizens of Jablonec founded a new settlement in Bavaria and called in remembrance of their hometown Neugablonz ("New Jablonec"). Today, it is one of the districts of the city of Kaufbeuren . Jablonec nad Nisou holds the Czech Mint after Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (the Czechoslovak mint, also known as

4692-599: The Interior Ministry. On 13 April 1948 the Czechoslovak government issued Regulation 76/1948 Coll., lengthening the window for requesting reinstatement of Czechoslovak citizenship under Decree 33 to three years. Under this regulation, the Interior Ministry was bound to restore an applicant's citizenship unless it could determine that they had breached the "duties of a Czechoslovak citizen"; the applicant may have been requested also to prove "adequate" knowledge of Czech or Slovak language. On 25 October 1948 Act 245/1948 Coll.

4794-520: The Nazis through the Sudeten German Party (led by Konrad Henlein ) and the 1938 German annexation of the Sudetenland . Most ethnic Germans of the Sudetenland , many of whom had wished their region to stay as part of Austria in 1919, failed to follow the mobilization order when Czechoslovakia was threatened with war by Hitler in 1938, crippling the army's defensive capabilities . In general,

4896-614: The Presidential Decrees, thus providing for the reparation of acts which contravened the law then in force. The Czech judiciary thus provides protection extending beyond the standards of the Convention." The validity of the Beneš decrees was first reviewed at the plenary session of the Czech Constitutional Court in its decisions of 8 March 1995, published as Decisions No. 5/1995 Coll. and 14/1995 Coll. The court addressed

4998-691: The SNR. On 4 April 1945 a new government was created in Košice , Slovakia (recently liberated by the Red Army ), consisting of parties united in the National Front and strongly influenced by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia . The president's power to enact decrees (as proposed by the government) remained in force until 27 October 1945, when the Interim National Assembly convened. The decrees may be divided as follows: Although decrees were not covered by

5100-472: The Slovak parliament Pavol Hrušovský said that Slovakia was ready to apologize for postwar injustices if Hungary would do likewise. Although Hungarian National Assembly Speaker Katalin Szili approved his initiative, further steps were not taken. In 2005 Mikloško apologized for injustices on his own, and similar unofficial apologies were made by representatives of both sides. According to Radio Prague , since

5202-473: The State Council. Because his presidential term should have ended in 1942, the government adopted a resolution that Beneš would remain president until new elections could be held. Although Beneš alone issued Decree No. 1/1940 (on the establishment of the government), all later decrees were proposed by the government in exile according to the 1920 Czechoslovak constitution and co-signed by the prime minister or

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5304-707: The Sudetenland after the Munich Agreement (gaining German citizenship while remaining loyal to Czechoslovakia) and those convicted as traitors whose convictions were later overturned (with their property confiscated in the meantime). Slovakia, as a legal successor of Czechoslovakia, adopted its legal order by Article 152 of the Slovak constitution. This includes the Beneš decrees and Czechoslovak Constitutional Act 23/1991 (the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms). This act made all acts or regulations not compliant with

5406-713: The Velvet Revolution Czechoslovakia also adopted Act 87/1991 Coll., providing restitution or compensation to victims of confiscation for political reasons during the Communist regime (25 February 1948 – 1 January 1990). The law also provided for restitution or compensation to victims of racial persecution during World War II who are entitled by Decree 5/1945. In 2002 the UN Human Rights Committee stated its views in Brokova v. The Czech Republic , in which

5508-420: The applicant was refused restitution of property nationalized under Decree 100 (nationalization of large enterprises). Brokova was excluded from restitution, although the Czech nationalization in 1946–47 could be implemented only because the author's property had been confiscated during the German occupation. In the committee's view, this was discriminatory treatment of the plaintiff compared to those whose property

5610-430: The built-up area lies in the eastern tip of the Zittau Basin , and it is surrounded with the Jizera Mountains in the north, east and south. The northern part of the municipal territory also belongs into the Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area. The highest point of Jablonec nad Nisou is located on the slopes in the southeastern part of the territory, with an altitude of 758 m (2,487 ft). Jablonec nad Nisou

5712-404: The charter inoperable. Although the Beneš decrees are a valid historical part of Slovak law, they can no longer create legal relationships and have been ineffective since 31 December 1991. On 20 September 2007, the Slovak parliament adopted a resolution concerning the untouchability of postwar documents relating to conditions in Slovakia after World War II. The resolution was originally proposed by

5814-434: The conservative revivalists were motivated by nationalism or considered contemporary spoken Czech unsuitable for formal, widespread use. Adherence to historical patterns was later relaxed and standard Czech adopted a number of features from Common Czech (a widespread informal interdialectal variety), such as leaving some proper nouns undeclined. This has resulted in a relatively high level of homogeneity among all varieties of

5916-414: The construction of the road in the 1840s. Jablonec was then promoted to a town by Emperor Franz Joseph I on 28 March 1866. Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871 damaged competitors in the production of glass and jewelry, and the Jablonec traders seized the foreign markets. A steady supply of a wide range of glass and artificial jewellery products flowed out of the town. This industrial advancement also improved

6018-525: The court decides that the execution shall be carried out publicly. The decree does not concern Germans and Hungarians who This was reviewed by the Ministry of Interior; or in cases of German/Hungarian soldiers serving in the Czechoslovak army abroad, by Ministry of Defense, with presumption of fulfillment of the conditions. Czechs and Slovaks who elected German/Hungarian nationality under duress may request exemption by Ministry of Interior. Married women and children to be assessed individually. Establishment of

6120-434: The day of the act's promulgation automatically regained their citizenship. This also applied to spouses and children living in Czechoslovakia with no other citizenship. For comparison, any person may currently be granted Czech citizenship if they: After the Velvet Revolution Act 243/1992 Coll. was adopted, arranging restitution of real estate taken by the decrees or lost during the occupation. The act applied to: In 2010

6222-612: The decrees dealt with loss of citizenship and confiscation of the property of: The defining character in definition of the entities affected was their hostility to the Czechoslovak Republic and to the Czech and Slovak nations. The hostility presumption was irrebuttable in case of entities in the Art.1(1), while it is rebuttable under Art.1(2) in case of physical persons of German or Hungarian ethnicity, i.e. that they were exempted under Decrees 33 (loss of citizenship), 100 (nationalization of large enterprises without remuneration) and 108 (expropriation) where they proved that they remained loyal to

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6324-402: The decrees which dealt with the status and property of Germans, Hungarians and traitors have not been repealed they still affect political relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Austria, Germany and Hungary. Expellees in the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (part of the Federation of Expellees ) and associated political groups call for the abolition of the Beneš decrees based on

6426-427: The dialects of Bohemia. Czech has a moderately-sized phoneme inventory, comprising ten monophthongs , three diphthongs and 25 consonants (divided into "hard", "neutral" and "soft" categories). Words may contain complicated consonant clusters or lack vowels altogether. Czech has a raised alveolar trill , which is known to occur as a phoneme in only a few other languages, represented by the grapheme ř . Czech

6528-527: The early 1990s) by a number of historians and legal scholars. The relevant decrees omit any reference to the deportation. Of the allies , the Soviet Union urged the United Kingdom and the U.S. to agree to the transfer of ethnic Germans and German-speaking Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Yugoslavs and Romanians into their zones of occupation. France, which was not a party to the Potsdam Agreement, did not accept exiles in its zone of occupation after July 1945. Most ethnic-German Czechoslovak citizens had supported

6630-405: The easily separable affixes characteristic of agglutinative languages are limited. Czech inflects for case, gender and number in nouns and tense, aspect, mood , person and subject number and gender in verbs. Parts of speech include adjectives, adverbs , numbers, interrogative words , prepositions , conjunctions and interjections . Adverbs are primarily formed from adjectives by taking

6732-477: The final ý or í of the base form and replacing it with e , ě , y , or o . Negative statements are formed by adding the affix ne- to the main verb of a clause, with one exception: je (he, she or it is) becomes není . Because Czech uses grammatical case to convey word function in a sentence (instead of relying on word order , as English does), its word order is flexible. As a pro-drop language , in Czech an intransitive sentence can consist of only

6834-461: The following issues concerning the decrees' validity: The conformity of the decree process with the Czechoslovak law and the 1920 Constitution; Beneš' right to issue the decrees, despite the existence of a formal protectorate government and German occupation decrees appropriate for the time of their issuance, in accordance with international consensus; decrees using the principle of responsibility, rather than guilt; decrees targeting those hostile to

6936-418: The grounds that their ancestors should have lost their property. Beneš, who was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1935, resigned after the Munich Agreement in 1938. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia Beneš and other Czechoslovak politicians and officials emigrated to France, establishing the Czechoslovak National Committee , in November 1939, to restore Czechoslovakia. The committee's primary task

7038-431: The language. Czech is spoken by about 10 million residents of the Czech Republic . A Eurobarometer survey conducted from January to March 2012 found that the first language of 98 percent of Czech citizens was Czech, the third-highest proportion of a population in the European Union (behind Greece and Hungary ). As the official language of the Czech Republic (a member of the European Union since 2004), Czech

7140-844: The last two are found only in loanwords such as auto "car" and euro "euro". In Czech orthography, the vowels are spelled as follows: The letter ⟨ ě ⟩ indicates that the previous consonant is palatalized (e.g. něco /ɲɛt͡so/ ). After a labial it represents /jɛ/ (e.g. běs /bjɛs/ ); but ⟨mě⟩ is pronounced /mɲɛ/, cf. měkký ( /mɲɛkiː/ ). The consonant phonemes of Czech and their equivalent letters in Czech orthography are as follows: Czech consonants are categorized as "hard", "neutral", or "soft": Hard consonants may not be followed by i or í in writing, or soft ones by y or ý (except in loanwords such as kilogram ). Neutral consonants may take either character. Hard consonants are sometimes known as "strong", and soft ones as "weak". This distinction

7242-515: The late 1940s. The Beneš decrees were enforced differently in different parts of the country with some decrees being valid only in Bohemia and Moravia , while the SNR's ordinances were enforced in Slovakia . The decrees also allowed Hungarian civil servants to be dismissed, health care to be withdrawn, the use of the Hungarian language in public offices and church services to be banned , Hungarian students to be excluded from universities , Hungarian cultural and social associations to be dissolved,

7344-500: The letter ř (capital Ř ) is very rare among languages and often claimed to be unique to Czech, though it also occurs in some dialects of Kashubian , and formerly occurred in Polish. It represents the raised alveolar non-sonorant trill ( IPA : [r̝] ), a sound somewhere between Czech r and ž (example: "řeka" (river) ), and is present in Dvořák . In unvoiced environments, /r̝/

7446-460: The move because of what he dubbed " Expel Them All, Let God Sort Them Out! " decrees. In January 2013 conservative Czech presidential candidate Karel Schwarzenberg said, "What we committed in 1945 would today be considered a grave violation of human rights , and the Czechoslovak government, along with President Beneš, would have found themselves in The Hague ." His opponent, Miloš Zeman, seized on

7548-468: The national minorities (Hungarians and Germans) for the collapse of Czechoslovakia, which was why they wanted to create an ethnically homogeneous nation-state. According to the Czechoslovak constitution of 1920, the only body with the power to issue the laws was the National Assembly (parliament) with each law being contrasigned by the president. As there was no way to summon the parliament in exile,

7650-474: The noun they modify. The following is a glossed example: Chc-i want- 1SG navštív-it visit- INF universit-u, university- SG . ACC , na on kter-ou which- SG . F . ACC chod-í attend- 3SG Bene%C5%A1 decrees The Beneš decrees were a series of laws drafted by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during

7752-535: The official Collection of Laws of Czechoslovakia after the liberation in 1945.Other (not re-published) decrees were ineffective in the liberated Czechoslovakia already in 1945. Yellow color marks constitutional decrees. Red color marks decrees that were later formally abolished. Establishes extraordinary courts, to decide cases in senates consisting of a presiding professional judge and four lay judges . No possibility of appeal. Death sentence to be carried out within 2 hours of sentencing, or within 24 hours if

7854-462: The official language of the Czech Republic . Czech is closely related to Slovak , to the point of high mutual intelligibility , as well as to Polish to a lesser degree. Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order . Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German . The Czech–Slovak group developed within West Slavic in

7956-453: The only body with limited legislative power was the office of the president. The legality of the whole government-in-exile was therefore derived from the person of Edvard Beneš who, nevertheless, resigned his office in October 1938. Beneš returned to his post as president on the premise that his 1938 resignation under duress was invalid. He then appointed members of the government-in-exile and

8058-785: The postwar order, declaring that postwar decisions are not the basis of current discrimination and cannot establish legal relationships. The resolution was adopted by an absolute parliamentary majority and approved by the coalition government and opposition parties, except for the Party of the Hungarian Coalition . It prompted a strong negative reaction in Hungary, and Hungarian President László Sólyom said that it would strain Hungarian-Slovak relations. Politicians and journalists have frequently ignored differences in conditions between Slovakia and

8160-528: The principle of collective guilt . On 28 December 1989 future Czechoslovak president Václav Havel , at that time a candidate, suggested that former inhabitants of the Sudetenland might apply for Czech nationality to reclaim their lost property. The governments of Germany and the Czech Republic signed a declaration of mutual apology for wartime misdeeds in 1997. During the early 2000s, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán , Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber demanded that

8262-515: The publication of books and newspapers in Hungarian to be banned, and ethnic Hungarians were not even to be allowed to start civil procedures . Anyone who had documents proving their Slavic nationality was rewarded with the option to move into the confiscated houses. The decrees remain politically controversial in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia . They were never repealed and are still used to confiscate property from Hungarians in Slovakia on

8364-563: The quality of life, and Jablonec's appearance changed dramatically. Historian Peter Hinks, writing about the various types of Late Victorian jewellery sold by British and American companies at the turn of the 20th century, noted that "The Bohemian garnet jewellery sold by Moore and Evans [in Chicago] was the product of an industry based in the town of Gablonz, now Jablonec. These very effective jewels were set with locally mined garnets, rose cut and set in gold mounts of very formal design." However,

8466-424: The reassessment of their common relationship by a commission of Slovak and Hungarian historians. Although the initiative was hoped to lead to a common memorandum about the limitation of mutual injustices, it did not have the expected result. On February 12, 1991, the Slovak National Council formally apologized for postwar persecution of innocent Germans, rejecting the principle of collective guilt. In 2003, speaker of

8568-404: The republic, not an ethnic group in general; decrees meeting the proportionality test; In Decision 14/1995 Coll. the court held that the decree at issue was legitimate. It found that since the decree has fulfilled its purpose and has not produced legal effects for more than four decades, it may not be reviewed by the court for its adherence to the 1992 Czech constitution. In the court's view, such

8670-564: The return of the language to high culture . This period is known as the Czech National Revival (or Renaissance). During the national revival, in 1809 linguist and historian Josef Dobrovský released a German-language grammar of Old Czech entitled Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache ('Comprehensive Doctrine of the Bohemian Language'). Dobrovský had intended his book to be descriptive , and did not think Czech had

8772-441: The spoken language. There was no standardization distinguishing between Czech and Slovak prior to the 15th century. In the 16th century, the division between Czech and Slovak becomes apparent, marking the confessional division between Lutheran Protestants in Slovakia using Czech orthography and Catholics, especially Slovak Jesuits, beginning to use a separate Slovak orthography based on Western Slovak dialects. The publication of

8874-453: The statement to discredit Schwarzenberg, accusing him of being supported by Sudeten Germans. In 2012 Prime minister Robert Fico defended the decrees and stated that they are unchangeable. He also stated that it is not Slovakia's job to take care of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, and that it is not his job to discuss the law. In June 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there had been "no moral or political justification" for

8976-461: The states of Texas , Nebraska and Wisconsin . In the 2000 United States Census , Czech was reported as the most common language spoken at home (besides English ) in Valley , Butler and Saunders Counties , Nebraska and Republic County, Kansas . With the exception of Spanish (the non-English language most commonly spoken at home nationwide), Czech was the most common home language in more than

9078-451: The term "Beneš decrees" refers to the decrees of the president and the ordinances of the Slovak National Council (SNR) concerning the status of ethnic Germans , Hungarians and others in postwar Czechoslovakia and represented Czechoslovakia's legal framework for the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia . The decrees treated German and Hungarian citizens as collective criminals, enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement. As

9180-457: The ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party in response to the activities of Hungarian members of parliament and organizations in Hungary. The Beneš decrees were a significant talking point of the Hungarian extremist groups Magyar Gárda and Nemzeti Őrsereg , which became active in August 2007. The approved text differed from the proposal in several important respects. The resolution commemorated

9282-424: The upper classes. Modern standard Czech originates in standardization efforts of the 18th century. By then the language had developed a literary tradition, and since then it has changed little; journals from that period contain no substantial differences from modern standard Czech, and contemporary Czechs can understand them with little difficulty. At some point before the 18th century, the Czech language abandoned

9384-439: The victims of World War II, refused the principle of collective guilt, expressed a desire to stop the reopening of topics related to World War II in the context of European integration and declared a wish to build good relationships with Slovakia's neighbors. It also rejected all attempts at revision and questioning of laws, decrees, agreements or other postwar decisions of Slovak and Czechoslovak bodies which could lead to changes in

9486-622: The village during the 16th century adjusted the name to Gablonz . During the 19th century, the attribute "German" was often added to the name (like in the 1848 Jablonec německý , German: Deutsch-Gablonz ). In 1904, the official attribute in both Czech and German became 'on the Neisse', which described the location of the city upon the Lusatian Neisse River. Jablonec nad Nisou is located about 7 km (4 mi) southeast of Liberec and 83 km (52 mi) northeast of Prague . Most of

9588-536: The worldwide economic crisis resulting from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 damaged the glass and jewellery industry and the crisis of the 1930s. Changing trends and the growth of foreign competition also hurt the local industry. In October 1938, Jablonec was annexed to Nazi Germany after the Munich Agreement , and was administered as a part of Reichsgau Sudetenland until 1945. Between 1945 and 1949, most of

9690-472: Was adopted, in which ethnic Hungarians who were Czechoslovak citizens on 1 November 1938 and lived in Czechoslovakia at the time of the act's promulgation could regain Czechoslovak citizenship if they pledged allegiance to the Republic within 90 days. Taking the oath would, according to German laws valid at the time in 1948, automatically lead to loss of German citizenship. On 13 July 1949, Act 194/1949 Coll.

9792-485: Was adopted. Under article three of the act, the Interior Ministry could bestow citizenship on applicants who had not committed an offence against Czechoslovakia or the people's democracy, had lived in the country for at least five years, and who would lose their other citizenship by receiving the Czechoslovak one. On 24 April 1953, Act 34/1953 Coll. was adopted. Under this act, ethnic Germans who lost Czechoslovak citizenship under Decree 33 and were living in Czechoslovakia on

9894-401: Was based on the Ordinance of the SNR 33/1945. The Beneš decrees and SNR ordinances sometimes contained different solutions. The list of decrees which have never been valid in Slovakia contains several with a significant impact on German and Hungarian minorities in the Czech lands: In 1990 the speakers of the Slovak and Hungarian parliaments, František Mikloško and György Szabad , agreed on

9996-561: Was confiscated by Nazi authorities and not nationalized immediately after the war (and who, therefore, could benefit from the laws of 1991 and 1994). The committee found that Brokova was denied her right to equal protection under the law, in violation of article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights refused the application of Josef Bergauer and 89 others against

10098-605: Was defeated by the Habsburgs in 1620, the Protestant intellectuals had to leave the country. This emigration together with other consequences of the Thirty Years' War had a negative impact on the further use of the Czech language. In 1627, Czech and German became official languages of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the 18th century German became dominant in Bohemia and Moravia, especially among

10200-462: Was founded in the 14th century. In August 1469, the village was burned to the ground by troops of rebelling Lusatians in the war between them and King George of Poděbrady . The village was then resettled in the 1530s and 1540s by mostly German-speaking colonists. In the first half of the 17th century, Jablonec was owned by Albrecht von Wallenstein , who sold it to the Desfours family . In 1643, during

10302-529: Was killed by Peter" the order of subject and object is inverted: Petr zabil Pavla ("Peter killed Paul") becomes "Paul, Peter killed" ( Pavla zabil Petr ). Pavla is in the accusative case , the grammatical object of the verb. A word at the end of a clause is typically emphasized, unless an upward intonation indicates that the sentence is a question: In parts of Bohemia (including Prague ), questions such as Jí pes bagetu? without an interrogative word (such as co , "what" or kdo , "who") are intoned in

10404-690: Was to establish a Czechoslovak army in France. After the fall of France the committee moved to London , where it became the Interim Czechoslovak Government . The government was recognized as the interim Czechoslovak government by Great Britain on 21 July 1940 and in 1941 it was fully recognized by the U.S. and the USSR as the government of the allied state. Since its recognition in 1940, the government issued decrees to rule over Czechoslovak citizens abroad. Beneš and other Czechoslovak politicians blamed

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