Wilson spent ten years in Czechoslovakia (1967-1977) where he taught English and learned Czech. He was eventually expelled by the Communist government.  On his return to Canada, he was active in promoting the work of dissident writers and musicians during the remaining years of totalitarianism. He also began writing for magazines and became a regular contributor to Shades, Books in Canada and The Idler magazine and was distinguished for his translations of Czech writers such as Josef Skvorecky, Vaclav Havel, Ivan Klima, and Bohumil Hrabal.  

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Leaving Czechoslovakia During Normalization?  

by Rosamund Johnston

Since 2009, The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) has been recording the stories of Czechs and Slovaks who settled in the United States throughout the course of the Cold War. Of the 282 interviews recorded to date, around one tenth has been with people who left during the normalization period.

For the purposes of this post, normalization means the era following the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and prior to the Velvet Revolution. It refers to the 1970s and 1980s, and the rule of Communist Party Leader Gustav Husak in particular.

There are, of course, many reasons why Czechs and Slovaks emigrated during this period. Marek Skolil explains his reasons for departure in the mid-1980s thus: "I realized that I want to leave the country - if I cannot study, I will leave." Jan Kocvara, meanwhile, suggests that it was for his family's sake that he decided to leave the country: "My son was in kindergarten... we went along the street for a walk and there was a big poster of Lenin and my [son] said 'Look mommy, Comrade Lenin!' And she said 'This is enough. I don't want this anymore. I had enough. They put it into the children. We have to go. We have to leave.' So from that day on, we were trying to find some avenue how to get out."

Among the older generation of NCSML interviewees, who emigrated in the late 1940s and early 1950s, there are many dramatic stories of crossing the border into West Germany on foot, often with bullets whistling past as they ran. By the 1970s, to all accounts, the process of emigration seems to have been a lot more bureaucratic. Borders were almost hermetically sealed, and the way out of the country was often through bribing and/or tricking a functionary, or stealing a stamp or appropriate piece of letterhead. Jerry (born Jiri) Barta's experience reflects this trend in the following video:

 A favorite means of emigration during this time was through the organized coach tour. Interviewees discuss traveling to Yugoslavia and seeking asylum at an UN-run refugee camp in Belgrade. West Germany was another country in which Czech and Slovak tourists frequently claimed asylum.

In total, historians believe that around 13,000 Czechs and Slovaks settled in the United States during the normalization period. Following the Velvet Revolution, it is thought that thousands of them returned to today's Czech and Slovak Republics.