Přehled o publikaci

This study treats the evacuation of children from war-afflicted Croatia, specifically from Daruvar, to the Czech Republic in the early 1990s. It was not only the children of ethnic Czechs living in Daruvar, but also all children in the war-torn region without regard to their nationality who were able to be registered for the transports hat were organized by Czech ethnic organizations – the League of Czechs and Slovaks in Yugoslavia [Svaz Čechů a Slováků v Jugoslávii] and the Czech Primary School J. A. Komenský – with the help of the government of the Czech Republic. The goal of this study is to reflect, on the occasion of the approaching thirty-year anniversary of the departure of these children from Daruvar, on the role of the Czech minority in Croatia during the period of the war, in relation to the effectuated evacuation of these children, and also upon the person of Lenka Janotová, who was the president at that time of the League of Czechs and Slovaks in Yugosla via, which had initiated the entire operation, organized it, and who substantially ensured the smoothness of its running. It is mainly thanks to her that about 1340 children and mothers with small children were rescued from the greater township area of Daruvar, and they spent nearly five months (from September 1991 to January 1992) in Czech asylum, accompanied by teachers and other caregivers. We reflect upon this historical episode on the basis of study of source materials stored in the archive of the League of Czechs in the Republic of Croatia, and through analysis of witness narratives acquired through oral history methodology.