What is Czechoslovakia?!

7 Nov 20083 comments

Czech beer, football players, Prague, Skoda cars - that's what most people think of when they hear about the Czech Republic or Slovakia. As country manager for these two countries and since this is my first post on the MyHeritage blog, I would just like to say hello and briefly introduce these two nations.

When people ask me where I come from and I reply "from the Czech Republic", it's always amusing to see how confused they are. Often they just reply "ah, Czechoslovakia." It has been 15 years since Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into two countries, but obviously there are still a lot of people who do not know about it.

Some nations might be offended by such ignorance, but we don't generally find it important. Our countries still have the best mutual relations so what to worry about? Even the former Czech prime minister suggested to use the label 'Czechoslovakia' as a marketing tactic, because it would help us being more recognizable in the world business.

There are 12 millions of Czechs around the world (of which 1.6 million live abroad) and 7 million Slovaks (of which 2 million are abroad). Although we speak two separately recognized languages, Czechs and Slovaks can understand each others' languages. Despite this fact, users from those countries will be happy to know we have translated MyHeritage into both Czech and Slovakian!

There are exactly 72518 Czech and 18812 Slovak users on MyHeritage today. That unfortunately does not get us into the top MyHeritage user country for Europe, nor in the world, but considering the number of inhabitants in these two countries, it's a pretty good ratio!

Posted by milan on November 7th, 2008 - 15:32

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sandy gaskins
November 7th, 2008 - 19:45
thanks for your entry on the Czech republic. Glad there are good relations between your countries. I am in the USA and new to My Heritage, although not new to geneology attempts to trace my son-in-law's heritage to Bohemia. His great grandfather was first generation from Bohemia to Us about the time of the first world war. Do you have any thoughts about where I can find Bohemian passenger lists to America and family archives from Bohemia? Have they been destroyed? Would love to be able to add this leaf to MY Grand Kid's family tree. ONE DAY they may be interested!
Thanks for any info you can share to help with this quest!
Sandy
PH DePoy
November 13th, 2008 - 15:05
I have been searching for anything about Korumlo, which unless I'm mistaken, is in Austria/Czechoslovakia. A grandmother of my daughter-in-law was born there in 1907. Can anyone give me some hints to how to find this place? or anything about it? I would so appreciate it. Thanks.
Milan
December 16th, 2008 - 15:42
Dear PH Depoy, if you give me a shout at milan (at) myheritage.com, I will be happy to help you! You probably mean small city in the south of the Czech Republic - Cesky Krumlov. If part of your family comes from there, you could be definitely happy, since Cesky Krumlov is one of the most beautiful cities in the country, even listed among UNESCO World Heritage sites! Just have a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov If you guess it's a different place though, let me know, I will do my best to find some other options! Wish you good luck with your family research using MyHeritage and merry x-mas!