Czech schools in Vienna

The Komenský association, which was responsible for these schools, struggled to obtain public status for these institutions, which would have entitled them to state funding.

Although the Dezemberverfassung laws of 21 December 1867 granted every "nationality" linguistic equality and thus the right to public schooling in its language, Vienna's mayor Karl Lueger feared that the city risked becoming increasing dominated by Slavs (it is estimated that as many as 500,000 Czechs lived in the city, which had a total population of 1.6 million).

The Lower Austrian parliament, which was also responsible for Vienna at the time, ruled from 1896 onward that German should be the only language of instruction in all state schools.

[2] Lueger's successor, Josef Neumayer, from the Christian Social Party, ordered the closure of a newly established Komenský school in the Schützengasse on 23 September 1911.

This act provoked not just a critical response in other parts of the empire, but also led to anti-Czech protests by German nationalists and members of the Christian Social Party.

School authorities and the army were prompt payers, but NSDAP offices refused to pay rent to the association.

[7] The last two public Czech primary schools to be maintained by the city of Vienna were closed before the end of the war in 1945 and were not later reopened.

[6] The majority of the Komenský association's wealth – which the Nazis had invested – as well as its buildings and properties were returned by the Republic of Austria after the war.

They were bought by private individuals, firms, the Republic of Austria, the city of Vienna dn other public organisations.

[6] The Komenský association has once again been using a building in the Schützengasse for educational purposes; it houses a bilingual Oberstufenrealgymnasium, which began life in the 2000/01 academic year at the Sebastianplatz.