Historical Background

The Society was officially organized in 1958, at the initiative of Czech and / Slovak intellectuals living abroad, at a time when the communist regime in Czechoslovakia had repudiated the country's historical traditions and suppressed free expression. The SVU wanted to provide a forum for the free development of Czechoslovak culture in exile and make the world aware of the Czech and Slovak cultural traditions, which date back more than a millennium.

Its activities, as outlined in the original bylaws, consisted of supporting and coordinating the educational, scholarly, literary and artistic endeavors of the Czechoslovak intelligentsia abroad. However, the Society was subsequently broadened into an organization open to all individuals, regardless of ethnic origin, interested in fostering Slovak and/or Czech culture.

Following the end of the communist regime in 1989, the SVU's functions greatly expanded. Now, in addition to its original mission, the Society has become a bridge between Czech and Slovak professionals and those in other countries. It allows scholars abroad to benefit from contact with their Czech and Slovak colleagues, as well as helping to reintegrate the intellectual life of these two nations into the main stream of world science, arts and letters, from which they were separated for so long by political barriers.

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