The Imagined Exiles: Slovak‑Americans and the Slovak Question during the First Czechoslovak Republic

Michael Cude’s article examines how Slovak immigrants in the United States related to their homeland, particularly on questions of national sovereignty (the ‘Slovak Question’). Free from the grip of denationalization efforts in pre-First World War Hungary, Slovak leaders in America established organizations geared toward Slovak national development and political activism, eventually leading to an effort to pressure Hungary from abroad to open up to cultural and political autonomy for the Slovaks. When the Czechoslovak independence movement was organized in exile after the outbreak of the First World War, its leaders attempted to utilize these existing Slovak-American organizations for financial, military, and diplomatic support. This campaign pushed many Slovak‑Americans to absorb a sense of direct influence on the affairs of their homeland, and, consequently, it caused them ample frustration when this influence later dissipated in the First Czechoslovak Republic. In response to this frustration, Slovak-American political activists replanted their fight over the Slovak Question against the newly formed government in Prague. Although the Slovak-Americans were not a true exile group, they embraced the mentality and approach of exiles, fighting from abroad to advance Slovak national aspirations. In addition, they regularly served as proxies in support of true political exiles. In this regard, historians can view these Slovak- American national activists as “imagined exiles,” adopting the role and behaviors of an exile organization even though they were not exiles conditionally. Although stymied in their goal of Slovak autonomy within the First Czechoslovak Republic, Slovak-American efforts nonetheless facilitated the adoption of a transatlantic Slovak national activism, and contributed to an embrace of democracy as a guiding feature of Slovak national identity.