Former Czech and Slovak exiles visit their homeland
The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, which held a conference in the west Bohemian town of Plzen this week, is the biggest and most influential organization of Czech and Slovak intellectuals living abroad. It has over two thousand members, who meet for conferences and gatherings around the world. What they share is an interest in their homeland, a desire to help their country and, in many cases, a feeling of nostalgia for what they had to leave behind when they fled Czechoslovakia for political reasons. Daniela Lazarova spoke with some of them about their lives abroad, plans for the future and their impressions of the Czech Republic twelve years after the fall of communism.
