The first free trips to the West: 35 years ago, Austria abolished visas for Czechs and Slovaks
By abolishing visas for Czechoslovaks, the Austrians launched an era of free travel.
In December 1989, a dream came true for thousands of Czechoslovaks: they were able to travel freely across the border to the West. For most of the inhabitants of Czechoslovakia, these were their first steps into a country on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
Previously, only a select few could travel to the capitalist country. Obtaining a visa and a foreign exchange guarantee was almost impossible for ordinary folk. In this way, the Communists strictly controlled who they would let across the border and who they would not. Before the end of 1989, people could only travel to some countries of the then Eastern Bloc without a travel permit, specifically to the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania or the Soviet Union. If Czechoslovaks wanted to go to the then-popular Yugoslavia or to the West, then such a permit was necessary. This soon changed after the events of November 1989.
Queues at the border to Austria
On December 4th 1989, the Austrian side decided to allow Czechoslovaks to visit without a visa. Thousands of citizens took advantage of this. Kilometres of queues formed in front of border crossings. There were also queues at bank counters. Per passport, one could exchange 300 schillings for 530 crowns, and later for 647 crowns. Travel agencies immediately reacted to the new possibilities and began organising one-day trips to Vienna, Salzburg or Linz. To this day, many remember that their first trip to the free world was to Austria.
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