Authors of the article are members of the Ethnological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and students of the department of Ethnology of the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University in Prague. It is based on the knowledge obtained in the course of the field research of multiethnic villages and towns with Czech minorities, realized in the year 1999 in Southern Ukraine. The research was focused mainly on the town Odessa and villages Bohemka, Veselinovka, Novhorodkivka, Alexandrovka and Lobanovo. Also Melitopol, Zoporoží and other localities are
mentioned. In the text, attention is given especially to the development of the ethnic composition of the inhabitants, their family life and family connections, sociál life and religious activities,
language communication and, partially, also to their folklóre and materiál culture. The researches arrived at a conclusion that in the times of „perestroika “ there was a rapid iníensification of the
interest in the origins of individual families, as well as a growing emphasis on the ethnical consciousness of the inhabitants, At the same time, manifestations of ethnic, minority and national
life in towns and in villages differ profoundly. The authors try to reveal reasons of this foct especially among the members of the Czech minority and to show what exactly do they perceive being base of their Czech identity.