What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 28 December 2022.

Rumunská was built in 1884.

In the 19th century, a homestead, Šafránka, was built here (it had completely disappeared by 1911).

It was later purchased by Čeněk Vávra, who was mayor of Vinohrady from 1868 to 1873.

When the street was built, it was therefore called Vávrova. It got its current name in 1926, and you’re probably bored of me explaining the 1926 renamings at this stage.

The first thing I think of when I think of Romanian-Czech relations is how Romania didn’t send troops into Prague in 1968, which is good. Then I remember that the person making this decision was Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was not.

Here’s his speech condemning the invasion.

According to the 2011 census, Romania has just under 2,500 Czechs, a drop of almost 40% since the previous census in 2001.

As in many other countries (hello, Serbia), there was meant to be a 2021 census, but it was postponed until 2022 and we don’t have full results yet.

Czechs migrated to present-day Romania in three waves in the 19th century (1823, 1827 and 1862), as the Habsburgs wanted to populate the borderland with people who could also protect it.

After WW2, when the new Czechoslovak government was desperate to repopulate areas which Germans had been forced out of with ethnic Czechs, about 2,000 Czechs were moved from Romania to Cheb. Further migration to Czechoslovakia occurred after 1990.

Czechs in Romania mainly live in Caraș-Severin County, which borders those parts of Serbia where there’s still a Czech population (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/03/02/prague-2-day-40-belehradska/).

Between them, the Czechs and Slovaks of Romania are guaranteed a seat in the National Parliament (as in Serbia, the Slovaks are a more sizeable minority – in 2011 there were 13,654 of them).

Romanians refer to the Czech population as pemi, a contraction of ‘boemi’.

Similarly, the Serbs refer to them as Pemci, which can have a more negative connotation. Also, Pemci can mean both Czech Bohemians and German Bohemians, which pemi doesn’t.