THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. SATURDAY JULY 16, 1949. Czechoslovakia Today

Northern Advocate, 16 July 1949, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. SATURDAY JULY 16, 1949. Czechoslovakia Today

Czechoslovakia under the hammer and sickle has figured prominently in the world's press in recent months. Evidently the Czechs have not abandoned hope that they will one day recover the national independence they lost when Hitler occupied.

their country

According to a Czechoslovak correspondent of Fortnightly, on the first anniversary of the Communist putsch in Czechoslovakia there was established in Washington the Council of Free Slovakia.

Its setting up was not reported in the British press, but it is of some interest, the correspondent says, because the council is the first united organisation of any emigration from behind the Iron Curtain. It includes political parties which used to be members of the Commun-

ist-inspired National Front, prominent individuals and, as a link with the pre-Munich days, representatives of the then biggest Czechoslovak

party, the Republicans, better known as the Agrarians, who led almost all Czechoslovak Governments between the wars but were not allowed to renew their activities after the war. The Council of Free Czechoslovakia, it is claimed, is the hope of most Czechs and Slovaks living an uneasy life at home and the voice of the 17,000 to 20,000 Czechoslovak refugees scattered mostly in camps

all over Western Germany. Their numbers increase every day although the frontiers are heavily guarded and the weather- is not always suitable for crossing the vast mountain woods of the Bohmerwald.

During the winter about 10 people came to Bavaria or Austria every night, but in March there were already 30 a day and it was expected that the coming months would probably see as many as there were last summer and autumn. ' It is admitted that the fluctuation of the refugees from one camp to

another makes reliable statistics impossible, but it seems that the bulk of them no longer consists of the intelligentsia but of farmers, traders, and. what must be depressing for the Communist planners of Czechoslovakia, of relatively young and skilled workers.

Those who are lucky enough to travel abroad as members of trading missions, sports teams and various delegations, sometimes use the opportunity of being out of the country. the Fortnightly’s correspondent

says, and do not return homo. A case in point is recorded in our cable news, two Czech tennis players who have been competing at the Wimbledon tournament having said that they do not intend to go home, preferring to go into exile, perhaps in the United States.

The players explained that they are not connected with politics, being sportsmen completely devoted to tennis.

Obviously life behind the Iron Curtain does not appeal to these young men, who would rather live as exiles in a country which gives freedom to its citizens.

This may be understood when the oppression of Communism upon the people, and especially the workers, of Czechoslovakia, as described by the Czech correspondent, is considered.

The iron hand is laidTieavily upon the people, taking the form of oppression rather than terror. "Most of the people still disagree with the regime,” it is stated, ‘‘but at the same time, they lose the courage to resist it. - “Do not forget that they were in it once already, under the Germans. “Now, as then, they lack the means of physical resistance; the change can only come from without. “That is why so many expect so much from the Council of Free Czezchoslovakia.”