Pittsburgh Agreement 1918

“We approve the political program, which endeavors to bring about a union of the Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state comprising the Czech lands and Slovakia.

“Slovakia will have its own administration, its parliament and its courts.

“The Slovak language will be the official language in schools and in public life in general (in Slovakia).

“The Czecho-Slovak state will be a republic, its constitution will be democratic.

“The organization of the collaboration of the Czechs and the Slovaks in the United States will be amplified and adjusted according to the needs and according to the changing situation, by mutual agreement.

“Detailed rules concerning the organization of the Czecho-Slovak State are left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives.”

“The Czechs took a big brother attitude toward the Slovaks,” said Michael Kopanic, a Cresson Township resident and professor of European history at the University of Maryland University College. “The two cooperated with one other. But the Slovaks wanted their autonomy. That’s what the Pittsburgh Agreement is about, too. It’s a commitment to have a common state of Slovaks and Czechs.”