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Slovaks and the Irish have much in common—our natural gift for music and dance, our fondness for potatoes. But during my recent visit to Dublin, what struck me most was not these familiar parallels, but the way Ireland has embraced its diaspora in ways that go beyond issuing passports or leveraging economic potential.
Perhaps it resonated so strongly because my colleague and I had just finished our sixth book, Across the Ocean: How Slovaks Settled America. Through the story of one fictional family from eastern Slovakia, it captures the reality of thousands who left at the end of the 19th century. Few imagined they would never see the fatherland again.
Yet, contrary to what we might think, their story does not end with departure or the struggles of becoming amerikáni (Slovak Americans). It continues through their children and grandchildren, who have carried the Slovak legacy across generations.
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Walking through Dublin, visiting museums, hearing stories of emigration, what impressed me most was how little Ireland seems willing to remain trapped in sorrow, loss, and separation.
Per capita, only the Irish emigrated in greater numbers than the Slovaks. Yet their millions of departures are not framed as a wound, but as part of national identity. To be Irish is not only to live on the island—it is to belong to a worldwide family bound by shared history and kinship.
As a Slovak, this perspective made me pause. When we think of our nation, we usually picture the 5.5 million within our borders. But that view is incomplete. Slovakia, too, is a nation of emigrants. Over the past 150 years, countless Slovaks left their homes—driven by poverty, politics, or the search for opportunity. Their departure was not an end to Slovak identity. It was a new chapter.
(source: Gabriela Beregházyová)
Like the roots of a tree, our identity stretches far beyond the Tatras and the Danube. Millions around the world still carry Slovak roots, whether their families left two decades ago or a century earlier. Even when language faded, traditions survived through recipes, songs, dances, and stories. Culture, I was reminded in Dublin, is not frozen in a museum—it adapts and grows stronger through change.
Too often, Slovakia sees emigration only as a loss—a “brain drain,” capable hands leaving. But Ireland showed me another way of looking at it.
What if we viewed our diaspora not as an absence, but as a presence? Not as loss, but as living proof of resilience? Against all odds, their Slovak identity endured—carried in the Easter baskets of ham, syrek, and eggs brought to church, in the holubky lovingly prepared, and in the joy of dancing to Slovak polka. These are not just traditions abroad; they are Slovakia living and breathing far beyond our borders.
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Our emigrants and their descendants are not ghosts of the past. They carry our villages in their memories, our traditions in their families, and a bond to the land their ancestors left. They are an extension of our nation across the world. To embrace them is to acknowledge that Slovakia is larger than the Slovak Republic. Their achievements abroad reflect values we hold dear: creativity, perseverance, and hard work.
Let us, like the Irish, embrace our diaspora as an inseparable part of ourselves—carrying our struggles, resilience, and legacy across generations, they remain a living extension of the Slovak nation.
To honor our diaspora is to honor ourselves. Slovakia is not only a small nation in the heart of Europe. It is a global community, alive and enduring. Our story is not one of loss, but of continuity, transformation, and pride.
