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[Klikk Her Og Skriv Tittel] Czech Emigrants Before and After the Iron Curtain Life stories in the context of changing cultural narratives Tone Maia Liodden Master’s thesis in Sociology Department of Sociology and Human Geography UNIVERSITY OF OSLO November 2006 ii Summary This research is based on life story interviews with 12 Czechs/Slovaks who emigrated during communism and returned to the Czech Republic after 1989. The aim of the study is to understand these biographies in the context of cultural discourses in the Czech Republic today, and in particular, to shed light on the tension that at times emerges among those who emigrated and those who stayed in communist Czechoslovakia. The basic theoretical premise of this research is that we depend on others to validate our life stories and to establish ourselves as moral, integral beings. The stories we tell about our lives are always interwoven with broader narratives about the community in which we live, and with other biographies (Gergen, 1999; Gran 2000). Historical change, such as the fall of communism, can alter the rules for biographical evaluation. The new narratives favour certain kinds of pasts and discredit others, thereby strengthening the positions of different communities of memory. The encounters between returning emigrants and the majority serve as an illustration of the struggle about which criteria that should be considered valid for the construction of a moral biography today. Divergent interpretations about the communist past and the individual’s responsibility during the communist regime can lend support to or undermine the validity of life stories. Returning emigrants constitute a biographical mirror that challenges the life stories of some people in the post-communist space. At the same time, emigrants’ biographies are also open to scrutiny. Upon return, they find that few people are able to understand their experiences from abroad, and their motivation for leaving is often questioned. Idealised images of the West and narratives about suffering at home overshadow significant parts of the emigrants’ own biographies. The main point of this study is to investigate the relationship between individual life stories and broader cultural and historical narratives. This may be a means to gain insight into important social processes, particularly in a society that is recovering from a historical epoch that is defined today as a national trauma. The tension between returning emigrants and the majority may be viewed as a symptom of the fact that the Czech Republic, as a post-socialist society, is still grappling with its own past and the ways in which the communist epoch is interconnected with present biographies. ii iii Acknowledgements Finally, the work on this project is coming to an end. It has been an incredibly interesting, fun, and challenging process. There are a number of people who have contributed in various ways along the way. Thanks to: Lenka Rovná and Eva Košnarova for their invaluable help at the beginning of the project. Jaroslav Cuhra, Miroslav Vaněk and Petra Schindler at the Institute for Modern History in Prague, for giving me access to interview material and for their helpfulness and friendliness. Barbora Matoušková and Geraldine Savary, for the good times we had together during my fieldwork in Prague. Petr Hanzl, for showing me the world from a new angle, and for his warmth and kindness. Ingrid Wergeland and Dagny Meltvik, for making everyday life at the Department of Sociology in Oslo particularly enjoyable. Sidsel Børmark, for advice at desperate moments. My mother, for her patience and generosity (and for cutting words!). My supervisors, Kirsten Danielen and Espen Gran, for inspiration, invaluable feedback, and for helping me through towards the end. Stiftelsen Arkivet in Kristiansand, for taking interest in the project and for generous financial support. Most of all, I would like to thank the participants who shared their life stories with me. It was a privilege to get to know all of them. Oslo, November 14th, 2006 iii iv Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 THE FALL OF COMMUNISM AND RETURNING EMIGRANTS......................................................... 1 1.2 EMIGRANT-MAJORITY RELATIONS UPON RETURN .................................................................... 4 1.3 STRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................. 6 2. A CHRONOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS ......................................................... 8 2.1 POINT OF DEPARTURE.............................................................................................................. 8 2.2 RECRUITMENT AND CHARACTERISTICS.................................................................................... 9 2.3 THE INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 ANALYSIS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RESEARCH NARRATIVE.......................................... 12 2.5 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................................................... 16 3. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ....................................................................................... 19 3.1 FACT OR FICTION? ................................................................................................................. 19 3.2 THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN PERSONAL AND CULTURAL NARRATIVES................................. 22 3.3 NARRATIVES ABOUT THE PAST AND MORAL IDENTITY........................................................... 25 3.4 COMMUNITIES OF MEMORY: MULTIPLE PASTS ....................................................................... 27 4. HISTORICAL CHANGE AND BIOGRAPHIES ................................................................ 29 4.1 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT(S)...................................................................................................... 29 4.2 HAVING THE RIGHT PAST....................................................................................................... 33 4.3 NARRATIVES ABOUT THE EMIGRANT: HERO, TRAITOR, VICTIM OR COWARD? ........................ 36 4.4 NARRATIVES ABOUT THE PAST: CULPABILITY OR VICTIMHOOD? ........................................... 39 5. MILAN: RETURNING TO CLOSED GATES .................................................................... 43 iv v 5.1 UNWANTED EXPERIENCES......................................................................................................46 5.2 THE STRUGGLE FOR POSITIONS AND LEGITIMACY...................................................................50 5.3 DAMAGED BY THE SYSTEM: THE NEW HISTORICAL NARRATIVE AND THE KEY TO THE FUTURE54 6. HANA: AN ACCIDENTAL EMIGRANT.............................................................................58 6.1 EMIGRATION NARRATIVES WITHIN THE LIFE STORIES .............................................................62 6.1.1 Emigration as an accidental or spontaneous result of the invasion ...........................63 6.1.2 Emigration as a life project ........................................................................................66 6.2 FAMILY HISTORY AND EMIGRATION .......................................................................................68 7. DANIELA: FULFILLING THE AMERICAN DREAM......................................................73 7.1 THE BRAVE AND ADVENTUROUS ............................................................................................76 7.2 TAKING LIFE IN ONE’S OWN HANDS OR SURVIVING WITHIN A HOSTILE SYSTEM ......................78 7.3 IMAGE OF THE WEST AND REJECTED SUFFERING NARRATIVES ...............................................80 7.4 THE ROLE OF THE VICTIM: MORAL AND MATERIAL CONSEQUENCES .......................................83 8. FINAL DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................88 8.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS ....................................................................88 8.2 BIOGRAPHICAL MIRRORS, COMMUNITIES OF MEMORY, AND THE NEED FOR RECOGNITION .....91 BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................................97 v 1 1. Introduction 1.1 The fall of communism and returning emigrants The rise and fall of communism are two significant landmarks in recent European history. The first event resulted in the division of Europe into two separate enclaves, a situation that endured for more than forty years. During this time, thousands of people migrated from the Eastern side of the iron curtain to the West1. The fall of communism in 1989 opened up Europe to a migration wave in the opposite direction, as some of the émigrés in Western Europe sought to go back to their countries of origin. Having lived in some cases for several decades in a different country, returning emigrants bring with them experiences and perspectives that differ from those of the majority. This study will focus on the life stories of Czech2 emigrants3 who left their country during communism, and who returned to the Czech Republic after 1989. The aim of the study is to understand these biographies in the context of changing cultural narratives in the Czech Republic and in particular, to shed light on the tension that at times emerges among those who emigrated and those
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