폴란드, 체코, 슬로바키아 민족문제 연구

The Polish, Czech, Slovak Ethnic Issues at the End of the 19th Century - until the Present Time from a Demographic Point of View -

본 논문은 19세기말부터 현재까지 유럽 정치외교에서 가장 중요한 문제 중의 하나였던 폴란드, 체코, 슬로바키아의 민족문제를 인구통계학이라는 잣대로 살피는데 있다. 동유럽지역 특징 중의 하나는 정치 불안, 즉 계속되는 국경선 변경과 민족충돌이다. 폴란드와 체코 그리고 슬로바키아에서도 민족거주지 변경을 포함한 대규모 인구변동이 있었다. 세 나라에서 진행된 이런 변천은 민족구조 면에서뿐만 아니라 정치적인 면에서도 중대한 결과를 가져왔다. 19세기말부터 20세기 중반까지 폴란드, 체코, 슬로바키아에서 진행된 민족구조 변동은 매우 심했다. 국경선이 여러 번에 걸쳐 변했으며, 안정기간이 매우 짧은 격동의 시기를 보냈다. 중세부터 시작된 팽창정책으로 폴란드, 체코, 슬로바키아의 많은 도시와 지역으로 독일인이 대거 유입되고, 독일-폴란드와 독일-체코 국경선 지역에 거주하던 슬라브인에 대한 동화정책이 성공하기도 했다. 그러나 이러한 독일의 동방정책은 20세기에 들어와 철저한 파멸로 종결됐다. 폴란드, 체코, 슬로바키아에서의 민족회복 과정은 성공으로 끝나 단일민족 국가탄생으로 귀결됐다. 민족 경계선이 너무나 복잡하게 뒤엉켜 있었고 그래서 수많은 충돌과 국경분쟁의 원인이 됐던, 지역이 이제 단일민족 국가를 이루면서 안정을 되찾게 됐다. 특히 2차 대전 후 진행된 협상의 결과 국경선이 새로 설정되고 독일 민족이 세 국가로부터 사라지면서, 정치 안정성을 뒤흔들던 분권주의 경향도 사라지게 됐다. 게다가 이제 그 규모가 작아진 헝가리인, 우크라이나인, 벨로루시인과 같은 소수민족은 현재 여러 지역에 산재해있으며 기존 정치질서를 위협하지 못하는 존재가 됐다. 국제정치면에서도 민족구조 안정은 긍정적 요소로 작용하며, 폴란드와 체코 그리고 슬로바키아 상호관계가 긴밀해지는데 일조하고 있다.

This paper presents the ethnic issues taking place in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia from a demographic point of view. The paper shows not only the general outline of the demographic situation of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also, and first of all, the general outline of problems of the nationalities living in this part of Europe. The scientific goal of the paper is to determine the numbers and spatial distribution of Polish, Czech, Slovak nations. The analysis was presented of the ethnic problems starting with the end of 19th century until the present time. The starting point was constituted by the determined for the year 1900. Additionally, two time profiles, namely the period between the two World Wars and turn of the 90's of the 20th century have been taken for analysis in a more detailed way. At the end of the 19th century Polish nation(of approximately 12.8 million), Czech population(over 5.8 million), Slovak(over 1.7 million) were living in present territories. As the result of World War I the political map of this area has changed. Independent Poland and Czechoslovakia emerged. At 1930 43.7 million people lived on the area present Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia territories (Poles- 18,671,100, Czechs- 7,229,600, Slovaks- 2,291,800). After the Second World War the ethnic status of Poland, Czechoslovakia differed very seriously from the one which existed between the two World Wars. It was not only demographic and ethic changes had quantitative and structural character but also the spatial distribution settings of particular nationalities. The ethnic German areas East of the Oder-Neisse line have became areas inhabited by Poles. A similar process occurred in the Czech border area, so called Sudetenland. Important ethnic transformations took place. Two gig ethnic groups, which have left their stamp on the history of this whole region, namely Grmans and Jews, have undergone radical quantitative reductions. At the same time a consolidation of positions of the three nations, Poles, Czechs and Slovaks took place. After the period of the great political transformations in 1990's, the collapse of communism the new political map of this Eastern Europe was formed. According to the present statistical data 54 million inhabitants(Poles- 37,548,100, Czechs- 9,779,000, Slovaks- 4,854,300) lived in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at the turn of the 1980's. As appears from this short survey, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were an extremely ethnically, differentiated area. At the moment of full stimulation of the national consciousness, which occurred in the 20th century, this whole area became the subject of disputes and national conflicts. They took place mainly during the years of the First and Second World Wars. The national problems were the reason of frequent frontier changes, which were usually justified by the ethnic premises. The present ethnic situation in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia developed as a result of complex and complicated political, demographical and socioeconomic transformations.