"We" and the "Others" : The English-Speaking Political Emigration to Communist Czechoslovakia in the 1950s
2012
Abstract
The paper analyzes the situation of English-speaking political emigrants or, more precisely defectors, who crossed the Iron Curtain in the opposite direction to what was generally the case for those seeking a better life. It focuses on the situation in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1950s, on the anti-Western propaganda the regime used to legitimize itself and on the reality the political emigrant had to face in the country.
Last, but by no means least, the paper touches on some aspects of the everyday life and everyday problems the English-speaking political asylum seekers experienced in the communist state. In addition, the paper works with the concept of the "other" in the case of communist Czechoslovakia in the Stalinist period.