| Abstrakt: |
This text captures one the lesser-described epizodes of relations between Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, i. e. the relations of these countries during the World War Two. Since 1943, agile Partyzans have become the main Yugoslav political current that the Czechoslovak exile government has dealed with and was considered by it to be competent to rule the postwar Yugoslavia. The Czechoslovaks have done so at the expense of relations with the exile régime headed by the king Petar II. In this paper, I describe the transfer of Czechoslovak focus from the exile government to the homeland-based Partyzans. An analysis of causes, context and consequences of this Czechoslovak policy is also included. Although the shift of focus of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile „from the king to the marshall" (i. e. from Petar II. Karađorđević to J. B. Tito) between 1943-1945 might seem as a revolutionary act, its implementation has been an inevitable political step, clearly related to the chronical incompetence of the Yugoslav government-in-exile and also a strong potential of the Partyzan movement. And although the dealings between the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav exile governments so far have not been fruitful, the following period, during which the Partyzans dominated as a ruling force on the territory of Yugoslavia itslef, saw even greater diminishing of contacts between the two governments in exile. Apart from first-hand information about mutual relations between the Yugoslav émigrés and the Partyzans, only few testimonies of contacts between the Czechoslovaks and Yugoslavs in exile remain. Although the Czechoslovaks had proofs about communist orientation of the Partyzans, they have decided to cautiously support this new state power in Yugoslavia over the former, monarchistic politicians. The internal coherence and unity of Yugoslavia with a stable state power was naturally more important than the ideological nature of its internal régime. On the contrary, it was, for the Czechoslovaks, the former Yugoslav monarchist elite who now posed a threat to the unity and ethnic peace of the restored Yugoslav state. The Yugoslav government-in exile, however, ended up in this position not only because of the political and military supremacy of the Partyzans, but also because of its own poor performance. Czechoslovaks' relations with these exiled politicians during the war gradually deteriorated and eventually ended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
