Nelehké návraty : český exil a pád železné opony

The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 meant the cardinal breaking point for states in Central Europe which affected their diaspora in the same way. The Czech exile was not an exception. Some of its representatives came back to Czechoslovakia during the Velvet revolution and the most of its members returned to the country in 1990. The memories of the first re-entry to their former motherland constituted an important part of their life-stories. Did the "first-encounter" with freed Czechoslovakia influence their decision to come back permanently? The paper is based on the archival and oral sources which were obtained during field research in the Czech communities in Austria and Switzerland. The sources often described a process called "reverse culture shock" which formed unknown yet important chapter of the Czech exile in the second half of the 20th century.