From believers to compatriots: the case of Vojvodovo,a ‘Czech’ village in Bulgaria1

ABSTRACT. The subject matter of this study emerged from a hypothesis that the members of emigrant groups who left the Czech lands before the period of “national revival” did not have shared Czech national identity, which was created only after their departure and was transmitted to these groups within the scope of the ‘protection programme for compatriots’ implemented by the Czechoslovak Republic in the inter‐war period. The core of the article is an analysis of the “nationalising” process of the community of Vojvodovo, a village in north‐west Bulgaria founded by emigrants from the Czech lands. The main emphasis is on comparing the views of proponents of the protection programme for compatriots – who considered Vojvodovo to be a “Czech” village defined in the first place by the “Czechness” of its inhabitants – and those of the Vojvodovan, who defined themselves primarily in terms of their religion, while lacking (Czech) national consciousness.