Croatian minority in the Republic of Slovakia

Croats settled into the area of the present day Slovakia in three waves: in the mid-16th century, mid-17th century, and in the late 17th century, mostly fleeing from the Turks. There are three distinct Croatian groups: Devinsko Novo Selo is mostly inhabited by Croats speaking the chakavian dialect; in Hrvatski Grob by those  who use the kajkavian and ikavian dialect, whereas in Hrvatski Jandrof and Čunovo local  Croats  speak the dialect of the Burgenland  Croats.

Croats in Slovakia mostly live in four municipalities of the capital Bratislava: Devinsko Novo Selo (Devínska Nová Ves), Croatian Grob (Chorvatsky Grob), Čunovo and Hrvatski Jandrof (Jarovce). Most of them are assimilated. 

It is estimated that there are about 4,000 Croats living in Slovakia today. Based on the 2011 census 1,022 residents of Slovakia declared themselves as Croats. In 2001 only 988 residents of Slovakia declared that they use Croatian as a mother tongue while during the census of 2011 the number increased to 1,234 citizens of the Republic of Slovakia.

Croats in Slovakia are recognized as a national minority. As there is no specific law on national minorities, minority rights are regulated by the series of laws. Since Parliamentary elections in June 2010 the issues of minorities are within exclusive competence of the Governemnt Council for National Minorities. It is an advisory and coordinating body of the Government of the Republic of Slovakia and the minority representatives participate in the activities of the Council. The representative of the Croatian national minority is Radoslav Jankovič, who is also the president of the Croatian cultural alliance. Croats are well integrated into Slovak society and well connected with the country of domicile. They also have a very good cross border cooperation with Burgenland Croats.

Based on the Law on Relationships between the Republic of Croatia and Croats Abroad the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Decision on Establishing and Appointing the Members of the Council of the Government of Croatia for Croats Abroad, which held its constituting session in July, 2022, where the representative of the Croatian minority in the Republic of Slovakia at the third Council convocation is Radoslav Jankovič. 

 Croats in Slovakia are organized in cultural clubs and associations, their umbrella institution being the Croatian Cultural Association in Slovakia established in 1990 with the headquarters in Bratislava. Its goal is to coordinate the activities of Croatian cultural clubs. The Croatian Cultural Association consists of four Croatian cultural societies: the HKD in Čunovo the HKD in Devinsko Novo Selo, the HKD in Hrvatski Grob, the HKD in Hrvatski Jandrof, and the Youth Club in Hrvatski Jandrof.  The widest spread activity amidst the Association is folklore (there are ten folk groups and a theatre group).

In 2005, the Croatian Cultural Center and the Museum of the Croatian culture in Slovakia was opened in Devinsko Novo Selo.  It was built by the contributions of the local municipality, the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Government of the Republic of Slovakia.

Since 2002 the classes of Croatian language have been organized in the Private Slavic grammar school in Bratislava which is a constituent part of regular school system of Slovakia. Besides that, classes are taught in Croatian language for the members of Croatian national minority in Hrvatski Jandrof, Čunovo and Devinsko Novo Selo within the competence of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia. At the   Department of Slavic Languages of Komenski university in Bratislava there is the sub-department   of the Croatian language.

The Croatian Cultural Association publishes the quarterly magazine "Hrvatska rosa". Also, depending on funding, the books dedicated to the preservation of Croatian minority traditions in Slovakia are published. Since March 2016, news and cultural programme under the name Hrvatski magazin has been broadcast on Radio Patria in Bratislava once a month.

Masses are said regularly in the Croatian language in Jandrof and Čunovo and once a month in other places where Croats live. Pilgirimages that gather Croats from neighbouring countries are also organized.