Image of Slovaks in the Polish press in the first half of the 20th century (until 1938). The perception of the Slovak distinctiveness in the context of ‘the Czech-Slovak mutuality’ and Czechoslovakism

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze the image of Slovaks and their relations with Czechs in the Polish press in the first half of the 20th century (until 1938). The Slovak–Czech relations had an impact on the development of the Slovak national distinctiveness. In the first part of the article I show the Polish interest in the Slovak–Czech cooperation before the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. The next part is devoted to the image of Slovaks in the interwar period influenced by the political Polish-Slovak rapprochement.
An important issue in both periods was the perception of the catholic and conservative Slovaks as the close nation by contrast to the liberal Czechs.