The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 meant the cardinal breaking point for states in Central Europe which affected their diaspora in the same way. The Czech exile was not an exception. Some of its representatives came back to Czechoslovakia during the Velvet revolution and the most of its members returned to the country in 1990. The memories of the first re-entry to their former motherland constituted an important part of their life-stories. Did the "first-encounter" with freed Czechoslovakia influence their decision to come back permanently? The paper is based on the archival and oral sources which were obtained during field research in the Czech communities in Austria and Switzerland. The sources often described a process called "reverse culture shock" which formed unknown yet important chapter of the Czech exile in the second half of the 20th century.
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia caused thousands of people fleeing the country to the West. In spite of hard times at the beginning of the immigration, most of the refugees have been able to accommodate to the new conditions and build up a career and new life. This study deals with the Czech communities in Austria and Switzerland after 1968. The author uses the content analysis of the periodical press and recorded interviews to describe the Remembrance Culture of members of the communities. The main research question of the paper is whether the year 1968 (which is the milestone in the Czech history) plays any role in collective consciousness of the Czech exile.