Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions after the fall of Austria-Hungary in Czechoslovakia and Poland

Abstract

One of the religious unions operating in the Habsburg monarchy was the Evangelical
Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions (hereinafter: EKAiHW). Established by the
will of Emperor Franz Joseph, it collapsed with the fall of the Habsburg monarchy. The article
presents the fate of this Church in two of the many successor countries that arose on the ruins
of the empire: Czechoslovakia and Poland, and the short-lived West Ukrainian People's
Republic in the years 1918-1939. on legal matters: the formation of new religious associations,
selected from EKAiHW, the process of incorporating old church structures into new
organizations, problems related to the interference of state offices in this process. National
disputes, armed conflicts: Czechoslovakia - Polish, Polish - Ukrainian, brought with them
specific consequences also in the religious sphere: for Poles in Cieszyn Silesia, for Germans in
Małopolska. The article also allows you to compare the legal solutions adopted by
Czechoslovakia and Poland, often dictated by political considerations and the policy towards
national minorities, which is different in both countries