Authors of the article are members of the Ethnological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and students of the department of Ethnology of the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University in Prague. It is based on the knowledge obtained in the course of the field research of multiethnic villages and towns with Czech minorities, realized in the year 1999 in Southern Ukraine. The research was focused mainly on the town Odessa and villages Bohemka, Veselinovka, Novhorodkivka, Alexandrovka and Lobanovo. Also Melitopol, Zoporoží and other localities are
mentioned. In the text, attention is given especially to the development of the ethnic composition of the inhabitants, their family life and family connections, sociál life and religious activities,
language communication and, partially, also to their folklóre and materiál culture. The researches arrived at a conclusion that in the times of „perestroika “ there was a rapid iníensification of the
interest in the origins of individual families, as well as a growing emphasis on the ethnical consciousness of the inhabitants, At the same time, manifestations of ethnic, minority and national
life in towns and in villages differ profoundly. The authors try to reveal reasons of this foct especially among the members of the Czech minority and to show what exactly do they perceive being base of their Czech identity.
The paper deals with Czech countrymen, soldiers-legionaries and
prisoners of war during World War I in the Russian Empire and their life conditions at the time when significant number of Czechs
became citizens of an enemy state (Austria-Hungary) with which Russia was at war. The position of Czechs in Russia differed based on their military status (legionaries and prisoners of war) and citizenship as only a part of Czechs had a status of Russian serfs (mostly those who immigrated between 1860s and 1880s).
During the war Czech countrymen associations who had hitherto focused on maintaining awareness of the Czech nationality, language, folk culture, etc. acquired, along with newly established Czech-Slovak associations, further significance and competence. The associations made life easier for their members, protect-ed them from expulsion from their homes, from confiscation of their property, raised funds and organised in-kind support, and the like. The Alliance of Czech-Slovak associations in Russia, which allied individual associations, also provided vital information, namely by means of its newspaper titled Čechoslovák (Czechoslovakian) which was published in Saint Petersburg (1915-1917).