POŠTOVNICTVÍ NA ÚZEMÍ NĚMECKO-RAKOUSKÝCH PROVINCIÍ V ČESKOSLOVENSKU 1918–1919
THE POSTAL SERVICE ON THE TERRITORY OF GERMAN-AUSTRIAN PROVINCES IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Summary/Abstract: The author deals with the transformation period from Austria-Hungary to Czechoslovakia in 1918 when state entities with a majority of German speaking in-habitants were established on a part of the Czechoslovak territory. These formations saw their future in the merging into Germany and Austria rather than as a part of newly founded Czechoslovakia. After the first Czechoslovak government had been constituted in November 1918, Czechoslovak authorities started a military campaign which led, by the end of December 1918, to seizing a complete control over the territory of the German-Austrian provinces. The decision of Entente powers after the World War I, as stipulated in the Saint Germain and Versailles Treaties, provided for these territories to be eventually attached to Czechoslovakia. Most inhabitants, however, never identified with such a decision, which had negative consequences in a struggle of German speaking inhabitants against Czechoslovakia in crisis years 1938–1939. These historical events had a significant impact on the postal service and communication network on the territory of German-Austrian provinces. These formations either directly joined the postal system of German Austria or created their own postal authorities (Postal Headquarters in Ústí nad Labem/Aussig; Postal Head-quarters in Opava/Troppau) that submitted to the Austrian postal centre in Vienna. The author deals with both administrative measures of the German-Austrian post offices and with the rivalry of the Prague and Ústí postal headquarters over the control of post offices in German-Austrian provinces. It also analyses the post stamps and forms as well as the preserved mail that went through the field mail of armed forces both of German-Austrian provinces and Czechoslovakia. The text was prepared to the 100-year anniversary of these events to commemorate this rarely mentioned part of Czech-Austrian relations and to find a propitiatory way for their interpretation acceptable for both Czech and Austrian part.

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