The anti-German presidential decrees applied to anyone who wrote the word “German” in the “nationality” column during the 1930 census. A third of the population of Bohemia and Moravia spoke German at home. After the war, each such person had to fight for citizenship and the right to remain in Czechoslovakia, otherwise they could be deported. This included returnees from concentration camps, who were Jews to the Germans but Germans to post-war Czechoslovakia.
Now look at what the “nationality” column, which fifteen years later would decide your post-war fate, actually looked like on the census sheet.
Within the framework of constructing post-war Czechoslovakia as ethnically, linguistically and culturally homogeneous society without minorities, bizarre bureaucratic requirements appeared, related to proving the national reliability of people who wrote something other than “Czech” in this column in 1930.
A document called the “certificate of statal and national reliability” was necessary to begin the process of restoring Czechoslovak citizenship. A mere German-sounding surname was sufficient reason for suspicion, and people speaking with an accent considered German could expose themselves to danger simply by speaking in public. The restoration or non-restoration of Czechoslovak citizenship played a crucial role not only in efforts to restitution property confiscated by the Nazis, but also in the quantity and quality of ration cards for food, clothing and shoes.
What exactly did the box on the census form ask about?