More than half of Slovaks don't know that the first Czechoslovak Republic was founded on October 28, 1918, according to a new poll.
The poll, which was carried out to mark the 90th anniversary of this event, found that only 44.2 percent of Slovak respondents knew the correct date, compared to 70.8 percent of Czechs. Only 36.6 percent of Slovak respondents stated that this date should be celebrated as a bank holiday, while the figure for Czechs was 63.1 percent.
Approximately half of the Slovak respondents have a neutral view of the founding of Czechoslovakia in terms of benefits. Czechs were more positive, while a majority of people overall thought that the unified state brought more benefits to Czechs than to Slovaks. The division of Czechoslovakia in 1993 was inevitable for the future development of both states, 37.8 percent of the Slovak respondents and 40.9 percent of the Czechs stated. More than 80 percent of the respondents have a positive view of each other, with Slovaks having a slightly better opinion of Czechs.
The poll was conducted in September and October by the Median market research agency. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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