University of Virginia Library

Bad Impression

The article on "Freedom: Escape
from Czechoslovakia" that appeared
in your paper on November
26 [reprinted from The Washington
Post] made a bad impression on
me. According to that article, a
Czech couple, Josef and Gabricla,
were vacationing on the Bulgarian
coast on the day of the Soviet
invasion of their homeland. After
seeking refuge in Yugoslavia they
presumably had to sleep on a
church floor and go hungry while
Gabriela developed diarrhoea and
Josef lost twenty pounds, all in two
days of suffering. When they arrived
in Vienna from Yugoslavia
they are said to have "looked like
scarecrows."

It happens that I was in Yugoslavia
at the time of the Soviet
invasion of Czechoslovakia, and I
find this story most implausible. On
the very first day of Soviet occupation,
special Red Cross centers were
established in all of the larger cities
to aid Czechoslovak citizens who
were then (more than 20,000 of
them) in Yugoslavia. Food and
lodging were provided without
charge by workers' collectives and
private individuals in tourist camps,
hotels and private rooms. The aid
was so ample that efforts were
made to seek out Czechs and Slovaks
to receive it. Radio stations
and newspapers began discriminating
information and news in
the Czech language. Financial assistance
was also given, particularly for
transportation fares and gasoline,
many of the Czechoslovaks having
come to Yugoslavia by automobiles.
There was no need for Josef
and Gabriela to sell their camera for
$40 to a Jesuit priest in order to get
to Vienna. Moreover, everybody in
that part of the world knows that a
Czechoslovak citizen had to show
only his flag or another sign indicating
who he was in order to get a
ride in the first car driving by.

The article also speaks of this
couple as "escaping" from Czechoslovakia.
In what sense could it
have been necessary to "escape" in
order to get from Bulgaria to Austria?
Both the Bulgarian-Yugoslav
and the Yugoslav-Austrian border
were open to Czechoslovaks. For a
long time, no visa has been required
for Czechoslovaks to enter or leave
Yugoslavia and an Austrian visa can
be obtained without difficulty. As
far as the Yugoslav immigration
officers are concerned, they allowed
Czechoslovaks to cross the
border to Italy and Austria even
though they did not have proper
visas.

It is certainly pleasant to start a
new life, particularly in freedom. It
is all the more pleasant to start it
with "pravda" or truth.