The Czechoslovak passport was issued to citizens of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

for international travel. After Czechoslovakia split into the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, the two countries started issuing their own passports.

History

Czechoslovak passport holders were required to obtain an

exit visa A visa (from the Latin ''charta visa'', meaning "paper that has been seen") is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on t ...

starting 23 February 1948. In the summer of 1948, the directive was temporarily suspended; In autumn 1951, however, the government mandated that all passports be confiscated, necessitating them to be sent to the Ministry for State Security in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. This move left thousands of Czechoslovaks around the world effectively stateless as their documents were confiscated by their local embassy/consulate-general. Thereon, passports were only issued to people who the Communist government saw fit to possess one. The Czechoslovak ambassador in the Soviet Union, Bohuslav Laštovička, protested the sudden change in policy. Travelling outside of the Eastern Bloc became a near-impossibility as Czechoslovak identity cards were only valid for travel inside the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

and obtaining a passport through legitimate means was practically impossible. In 1963, however, Czechoslovak citizens were given authorization to visit relatives in the West, and subsequently, the 1965 Act No. 63 on Passports made for a more liberal passport issuance regime.

References

Defunct passports Foreign relations of Czechoslovakia {{Czechoslovakia-stub

History

See also

References