Foreigner Looking for an Apartment: Switzerland

synopsis

Asylum in Switzerland

Czechoslovak Refugees

Guests from Czechoslovakia Become Refugees

Two Years Later: Czechoslovak Refugees in Switzerland

Live Broadcast from the City Theatre

The Russian Invasion of Czechoslovakia

biography

When a foreigner searches for an apartment in Switzerland and is one of around 9,000 Czechoslovaks who emigrated there in 1968, a previously welldefined procedure connected with his application for asylum awaits him. Four different categories of applications consider, for example, the refugee’s travel visa granted at the consulate in Czechoslovakia or an invitation to Switzerland from a relative who has already settled there. With its generosity and civic responsibility, Switzerland doesn’t hold back from its own love of bureaucratic tidiness or its political neutrality. A language course, support through social activities, as well as a work permit and accommodation are integral parts of the assistance that Switzerland off ers to political refugees. In period footage, we are introduced to a wide spectrum of people who were not forced give up their profession after they emigrated – craftsmen, technicians, as well as doctors and scientists. Today, an overlooked aspect of the working integrity of refugees was, in the case of Czechoslovak emigrants in Switzerland, highly recognized. Reports from Swiss television archives show us not only the emigrants’ perspective, but also the view from the other side – how the host country viewed the Czechoslovak immigrant community. Short statements by Swiss citizens are very positive, but also, typically for the Swiss, politically correct. The selection includes a direct broadcast of the great cultural event of the Basel City Theater from August 1968, in which writers such as Heinrich Böll, Max Frisch, and Günter Grass talk about the suppression of the Prague Spring with the arrival of the Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia. In speeches they recall their visits to Czechoslovakia, to friends living there, and formulate reflections on the consequences of political upheaval. When comparing the host countries, Switzerland was clearly the most generous and the most organized destination for Czechoslovak emigrants in the 20th century, and evidence of this remains even in today in the strongly represented community of second- and third- generation Czechoslovak immigrants.