The Greek Immigration in Czechoslovakia (1948-1989): Arrival, Process of Settlement, Legal Status, Repatriation
Abstrakt
The Greeks represented the largest group of foreigners over the entire period of the communist Czechoslovakia. These individuals were mostly followers of the Greek communists, i.e. "befriended foreigners" who gave the Czechoslovak regime the opportunity to demonstrate its solidarity and internationalism.
Their presence was also used by the official propaganda as an antipole to thousands of Czechoslovak citizens leaving for western countries. A closer look at the Greek immigration, based on analysis of Czech primary sources, surprises not only by the ethnic and linguistic diversity of immigrants from Greece, but also by the diversity of pathways to adaptation to the Czechoslovak society.
This paper deals with the case of approximately 12 000 Greek immigrants in Czechoslovakia, focusing on the routes which the Greek immigrants had to take to go into exile, and their settlement strategies in Sudetenland. Furthermore, the paper discusses efforts of reunifying immigrant families, their relocation from villages to urban areas, the legal status of immigrants and lastly their repatriation to Greece.