Velvet Divorce and marriage: real-life Czech-Slovak couples
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Loading... - Peter Larsen
- 03 Apr 2023
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The dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 is poetically known as the Velvet Divorce, carrying with it connotations of a marriage that went sour but ended amicably. This belies the fact that there were – and are still – many real-life Czech-Slovak couples whose relationships lasted, or began, despite the ending of the union between their two countries.
As the product of a Czech-Slovak union myself, I was curious to know if the political separation of the two states had had any effect at all on the real-life marriages and relationships between actual people – are fewer Czech-Slovak couples getting together now than when it was one country?
According to figures from the Czech Statistical Office, in 1989, prior to the Velvet Divorce, there were 3875 Czech-Slovak marriages in Czechoslovakia: 2098 between a Slovak bride and a Czech groom and 1777 between a Slovak groom and a Czech bride. In 2021, 1915 Czech-Slovak marriages took place in Czechia – 950 Slovak women married Czech men and 965 Slovak men married Czech women. Meanwhile, in Slovakia in 2021, 1234 Czech-Slovak marriages took place, with 892 of those being marriages between a Czech man and Slovak woman, and 342 being marriages between a Slovak man and Czech woman.
If you add the Czech-Slovak marriages from 2021 that took place in Czechia and in Slovakia together, you get 3149 – 726 fewer than in 1989. So if these two years are any indicator of pre- and post-Velvet Divorce trends, the number of Czech-Slovak marriages taking place on Czech and Slovak territory has slightly decreased since the two countries went their separate ways. Read More…
