The Polish community is the only national (or ethnic) minority in the Czech Republic that is linked to a specific geographical area.

After the Velvet Revolution Polish organizations were re-created again and Trans-Olza had adopted bilingual signs.

At the beginning of the 20th century and later from 1920 to 1938, the Czech population grew significantly (mainly as a result of immigration and the assimilation of locals) and the Poles became a minority, which they are to this day.

The new immigrants were Polish and poor, about half of them being illiterate, and worked mostly in coal mining and metallurgy.

Germans were economically strongest, mostly owners, Czechs were mostly clerks and other officials, and Poles were mostly manual workers, miners, and metallurgists.

Plebiscite commissioners arrived at the end of January 1920 and after analyzing the situation declared a state of emergency in the territory on 19 May 1920.

Eventually 58.1% of the area of Cieszyn Silesia and 67.9% of the population was incorporated into Czechoslovakia on 28 July 1920 by a decision of the Spa Conference.

[13] This division was in practice what gave birth to the concept of the Trans-Olza — in Polish Zaolzie, which literally means "the land beyond the Olza River" (looking from Poland).

About 12,000 Poles in total were forced to leave the region and flee to Poland in the aftermath of the division of Cieszyn Silesia.

[16] Newly built Czech schools were often better supported and equipped, thus inducing some Poles to send their children there.

After a few years, the heightened nationalism typical of the period around 1920 receded and local Poles increasingly co-operated with the Czechs.

Still, Czechization was supported by Prague, which did not abide by certain laws related to language, legislative, and organizational issues.

The Polish side argued that Poles in Trans-Olza deserved the same rights as Germans in the Munich Agreement.

The vast majority of the local Polish population enthusiastically welcomed the change, seeing it as a liberation and a form of historical justice.

Local Polish people continued to feel like second-class citizens and a majority of them were dissatisfied with the situation after October 1938.

[24] Poles received lower food rations, they were supposed to pay extra taxes, and were not allowed to enter theatres, cinemas, and other venues.

Mass killings, executions, arrests, taking locals to forced labour, and deportations to concentration camps all happened on a daily basis.

The World War II death toll in Trans-Olza is estimated at about 6,000 people: about 2,500 Jews, 2,000 other citizens (80% of them being Poles),[25] and more than 1,000 locals who died in the Wehrmacht (those who signed the Volksliste).

[25] Immediately after World War II, Trans-Olza was returned to Czechoslovakia within its 1920 borders, although local Poles hoped it would again be given to Poland.

[37] The primary language of the Polish population in Trans-Olza is the Cieszyn Silesian dialect, with the vast majority of Poles using it in everyday communication.

Many other choirs and traditional folk vocal and dance groups exist, including Olza, Bystrzyca, Oldrzychowice, Suszanie, and Błędowianie, among others.

Pop and rock bands include Glayzy, Glider, P-metoda, Apatheia, Poprostu and other groups.

In 2003, Czech Television's studio in Ostrava launched a regular five-minute news and current affairs weekly in Polish.

[40] Polish primary schools function in the following municipalities: Albrechtice (Olbrachcice), Bukovec (Bukowiec), Bystřice (Bystrzyca), Český Těšín (Czeski Cieszyn), Dolní Lutyně (Lutynia Dolna), Havířov (Hawierzów), Hnojník (Gnojnik), Horní Suchá (Sucha Górna), Hrádek (Gródek), Jablunkov (Jabłonków), Karviná (Karwina), Košařiska (Koszarzyska), Milíkov (Milików), Mosty u Jablunkova (Mosty koło Jabłonkowa), Návsí (Nawsie), Orlová (Orłowa), Ropice (Ropica), Stonava (Stonawa), Těrlicko (Cierlicko), Třinec (Trzyniec), and Vendryně (Wędrynia).

In the interwar period there was a plethora of organizations of all types in all Central European countries, the Trans-Olza region wasn't exception.

Another large organization was Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczne 'Beskid Śląski' (Polish Tourist Association 'Silesian Beskids') established in 1910.

Initially it focused on organizing the Polish tourist movement and building mountain huts in the Beskids but later widened its activities to skiing, football, athletics and volleyball.

After World War II it operated half-legally and as Siła, was liquidated by Czechoslovak communist authorities after the Victorious February 1948.

The last notable multi-sport club was Proletariacka Kultura Fizyczna (PFK, Proletarian Physical Culture).

Through the communist era Polish minority declined demographically and this process continue to date, hence after the fall of communism in 1989 only a few sport organizations resumed their activity.