- Post-War Czechoslovakia, Communist Coup and the Cold War Exile
Czechoslovakia was liberated from the Nazis in May 1945, however the gradual sovietization and the dominance of the Communist party took place in the country. The Communists completed the takeover inFebruary 1948 and the period of their totalitarian regime lasted for more than four decades. After the takeover, thousands of Czechs and Slovaks (up to 300 000 between 1948-1989), who sought the return of freedom and democracy to their homeland, left. Their first steps in the free world brought these people into the so-called displaced persons camps in Western occupation zones of Germany and Austria or in Italy. The first periodicals were published, the first seeds of political activity were born and later developed by numerous exile groups and entities. Almost seven dozens of newspapers, magazines and newsletters, and nearly one hundred ninety Czechs institutions, including political organizations, parties, academic clubs or think-tanks, operated in the free world after 1948. Despite the promising start and international support, the so called Council of Free Czechoslovakia, meant as the umbrella body for the entire exile, writhed in crisis, fell apart and reunited again, its members were wasting time with endless quarrels and were continuously losing the confidence of the exile public and their donors from the U.S. government. As time passed, the atmosphere in the exile changed, new topics, challenges and leaders raised. Dr. Nekola will discuss all aspects of the Czechoslovak Cold War exile in his contribution.
2) For The Freedom of Captive European Nations: Eastern European Exiles in Postwar America, Canada and Australia
The talk will focus on the formation and development of organizations of political exiles from the countries of East-central and South-east Europe in the U.S.A. in early Cold War. The inclusion of this topic in a wider international context and its comparative research is still fundamentally lacking. Using his longtime research in both U.S. and European archives the speaker will provide a basic factual overview, outline the general preconditions leading to a comparison of the operation of the anti-communist exile movements. Also, he will discuss the political organizations and representatives of a number of individual national exile groups (Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Baltic people etc.), will explain that their role and standing, essentially derived from changes in international politics in the first decade of the Cold War (1946-1956)
3) Cold War Refugees in Displaced Persons Camps
The first steps of East-European refugees inthe free world brought these people into the displaced persons camps in Western occupation zones of Germany and Austria and in Italy. It is a forgotten fact that more than 20 million people in Europe were out of their home countries by the end of World War Two. These included former Jewish prisoners inconcentration camps, forced laborers returning from Germany, expelled German minorities from Eastern Europe and, above all, people escaping from Stalin and his Communist regimes or refusing repatriation behind the Iron curtain. The newly arrived refugees were carefully interviewed and given some degree of protection or declared ineligible by the International Refugee Organization (IRO). The atmosphere in the camps was extremely tense because there was a widespread belief that the Cold War would quickly change into an armed conflict between the USA and the USSR. But as time passed, and people remained long months or even years in the camps, sending visa application and waiting for work permits and transport to a new home. The camps could be likened to a unique microcosm, where you could have found prostitution, black market, subversive activities of Communist informants, violent and boozy clashes as well as churches, chapels, libraries, schools, kindergartens, shops, craft workshops, sport associations, Boy Scout troops, even the recruitment offices for Western armies. Moreover, in the camps the first magazines, brochures and leaflets were published, and the first seeds of political activity were born.