Czechoslovakia in 1972

As thrifty students, we were always up for a cheap holiday. The British Council arranged exchange visits, sending students on visits abroad and entertaining foreign students here. So, for a small fee to cover getting there and back, we found ourselves on a trip across the ‘iron curtain’.  It was my first trip to Eastern Europe, although Judy had already been to Bulgaria. This account is taken from my diary at the time.

A long journey

We take a crowded Belgian ferry from Dover to Ostend and meet Tony Weir on his way to the Olympics, to be famous on 5th September for the Munich Massacre when the Black September group killed several Israeli athletes. (I don’t think we heard anything of that until we returned).

After an uncomfortable night in couchettes on the train to Stuttgart we arrive at dawn, grab breakfast at the station and leave on the 8 am train for Prague with just 3 rolls and an orange for sustenance. We have fun throwing Germans out of our reserved compartments and don’t feel especially welcome on reaching the Czech border either, where armed soldiers and lookout posts dominate the area. Several soldiers board the train to stamp our visas and passports, checking under the seats, perhaps to see if we are smuggling spies into the country.

Things are looking up as we reached Cheb station, where currency changers go down the train giving 35 crowns to the pound. Of course our first priority is soon met by buying beers through the train windows, at anything from 1 to 5 crowns for half a litre. The Czech countryside goes by in a blur of rolling hills, lakes, thick evergreen forests and wheat fields, interspersed by industries centred on coal mines with huge slag heaps. The villages often have large houses, but it’s noticeable how many are in poor repair or derelict.

Prague

After 24 hours on trains we arrive in Prague to be greeted by our two lovely Czech guides, both friendly, female students. They take us to the Hotel Meteor, a hostel with 2 or 3 lumpy beds to a room. It doesn’t worry us as we sleep like logs after that long journey.

Prague: Apostle Clock

On the Sunday we are shown the sights of Prague, including the university and theatre. The presidential palace has impressive painted ceilings and libraries full of leather bound books. The fashion conscious members of our group reckon the styles worn by the locals are a bit behind those in the UK. Lots of cheap ski jackets, but the men haven’t progressed to flared trousers or even smart suits, although the girls are more up to date with mini skirts and boppy jackets. Perhaps some of us were expecting to see peasants in traditional costumes?

Our guides hate the Russians. They show us bullet holes (which we are not allowed to photograph) left in the walls of buildings in Prague during the soviet led invasion in 1968.

The food and drink is quite Germanic: schnitzels, frankfurters, and peculiar bread rolls with both sugar and salt on them, washed down with pilsner lager. We join hundreds of locals in the large beer Keller that evening, enjoying litres of treacly black beer to the sounds of a loud brass band. It is all too much for one of our party, who decides to go home and has to fill in 17 exit forms to do so – a reminder that we are firmly behind the iron curtain and it’s not easy to escape.

It is a cultural visit so we attend a talk about the lives of young people. Schools for ages 6 to 16 yrs are all comprehensive, introduced when the country turned communist after the 1948 revolution. This was when learning Russian became one of the mandatory subjects. School is followed by the ‘Gymnasium’ to prepare the 30% who are academic for university, or technical colleges for the 60% gaining practical qualifications and apprenticeships, with the rest going direct to unskilled jobs.  There are no youth clubs, but communist clubs serve a similar purpose.  In the afternoon, remembering the previous evening, I buy an amusing poster depicting a brawl in a tavern.

That evening is spent at the national mime theatre (possibly Ta Fantastika?), where we witness 2 hours of mimes performed to music and sound effects, covering themes such as check and mate, at the circus, man and chicken, man and dog, life of man, life of a tree, man and machine, duel in the dark and meeting in the park. After that our group picks up three East Germans, who make it clear they hate their own country but love Czechoslovakia.

The next day sees us at a talk on the transition between school and work in the communist state.  About to start Part 2 of my degree, speicialising in Materials Science, I find it interesting that the country has a reputation for high quality engineering and metallurgy, with fast development of plastics and that half of the 7M workforce are employed in industry, including glass, ceramics and leather. This is quite a contrast to the UK, where prospects for a career related to my subject are rapidly reducing.

A further 1M work on the collective farms, run by chairmen, but wheat still has to be imported (presumably from Ukraine). Apparently there is no unemployment, 44% of women are working and there’s a shortage of engineers to work for the large enterprises like Skoda and CKD. It seems girls prefer the humanities and outnumber boys in the Gymnasiums, despite the efforts of the government to direct places at universities and technical colleges.

Of course the Communist party runs the government, although there are other parties and unions, including a Union of Socialist Youth, a People’s party, Liberty and Revival parties. Czechs and Slovaks also have separate regional governments and the Communist party has regional, district and local committees all responsible for implementing the 5-year plans. Religion seems to be tolerated, with priests being paid by the state.

After that indoctrination it is good to get into the disco in the evening, once they let us in having found a plumber to fix the toilets.

Karlsteyn and Lidice

The view from Karlsteyn Castle

Karlsteyn Castle is a reminder of the power of its kings in the middle ages. It’s impressive and very well fortified, located on a hill top and reached by climbing lots of steps.

At the Nazi crime memorial at Lidice

On the return to Prague, the memorial at Lidice is a poignant reminder of the Nazi atrocity where they completely destroyed an entire village. In revenge for the assasination of Heydrich, all inhabitants of the village were either shot, sent to concentration camps or deported to satisfy Hitler’s rage. It wasn’t even the correct Lidice.

Zivohost

En route we visit a glove factory employing 3,000 workers, 70% of whom are female. This is to show off collective productivity under the communist system. Contrary to rumour, they don’t just make one giant pair of gloves a month to meet their weight target. There is no attempt to sell us anything, unlike some western coach tours, where factory visits from coach loads of equally reluctant tourists subsidise the holiday and provide a nice back hander for the tour guides.

Water skiing mastered

Zivohost is a youth camp for 15-35 year olds and parties of Danish, English, Russians and Czechs are there. At last, it is a chance to relax and have some fun in paddleboats, rowing boats and canoes with no paddles. I am useless at the water skiing, but Judy has a go and I have a great day riding in the speedboat.

The highlight of the day is our men beating the Russians 1-0 at football.

Celebrating our win

Karlovy Vary

Pilzen Cathedral

On the way we stop at Pilzen for a Pilsner beer and see the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, which has the tallest spire in central Europe at over 100 metres. The bus driver has a few too many beers and almost lands us in a field on two occasions, although that might have been smoother than the bumpy roads.

We arrive in the spa town at the luxurious Hotel Alice – there are actual showers for each room. We are greeted with a tea of salami, cheese and beer, but the Pivo (beer) runs out at 7 pm and the jukebox is turned off at 8, so we resort to drinking wine and ‘Karlovy Vary’ liqueur. It seems that ‘old people’ have taken over most of the hotel, although this one is supposed to be for youth.

Taking the waters at Karlovy Vary

On our tour of the town we see people everywhere drinking the local (disgusting) spa water. We visit a porcelain factory, but in truth there isn’t much to interest young people as everything shuts at 8 pm, apart from an expensive nightclub we can’t afford to visit.

Jachymov

The highlight for me is a visit to the silver and uranium mines in Jachymov, which have some interest for me as a metallurgist. On our return to Karlovy Vary we have just enough money left to buy something to take home – the local specialities of waffles and liqueur. The waffles are nice, but I think we still have most of the contents of the bottle of Karlovy Vary liqueur sitting in the back of a cupboard.

Marianske Lazne

Hotel Krakanos

Our final stay is in another luxurious hotel at another spa resort.

Judy having her wishes fulfilled by the old Krakonoš statue - just think of the wishes, touch the miracle stone in Krakonoš's belt and jump on the leg 3 times on one leg.

We have fun sneaking out at night to clamber over the sculptures in the hotel garden. It’s a shame that, just as we’re getting to know all the other young people on the trip, the holiday is nearly over and we’ll soon be dispersed all over Britain again.

Photo album

Itinerary

Youth visit to Czechoslovakia Fri 25/08/1972 to 09/09/1972
Leader: Mike Woolley
Map showing places visited.

o    26-31/08 – Prague Hotel Meteor, excursions to Karlstejn & Lidici.
o    31/08-03/09 – Zivohost Camp
o    03-07/09 – Karlovy Vary Hotel Alice
o    07-09/09 – Marianske Lazne – Hotel Krakonos