Friends And “Friends”

This publication focuses on the issue of the integration of the Jewish population into the majority society in the years 1945-1948. It focuses primarily on three groups of Jewish citizens of the Czech lands whose integration was highly problematic: "German Jews", persons declaring Jewish nationality and Jewish optants from the former territory of Transcarpathian Ruthenia who decided to settle in Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. Their legal status was particularly unclear in the immediate post-war period. The key issue was the acquisition of Czechoslovak state citizenship, which affected their ability to become full citizens, which in turn fundamentally shaped their future. Upon their return from concentration camps or emigration, Jews in the Czech lands were once again forced to actively prove their loyalty to the Republic and to refute long-standing anti-Jewish prejudices.