Czech Refugee Trust Fund in Britain, 1938–1975 : Lifeline to Freedom

This book documents the vital role of the British-based Czech Refugee Trust Fund (CRTF) and its predecessor, the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC). It provides much needed insight into the now almost forgotten political debates, controversies, and difficulties that impacted on both the British and Czechoslovak governments as well as on the refugees fleeing from Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasions of 1938 and 1939. In addition to Czechs, those seeking to leave Czechoslovakia included numerous political and/or racial antifascist German and Austrian refugees who had been sheltering there prior to the 1938 Munich Agreement and its consequences. Spanning Fascist and Communist eras, the book draws upon archive materials and personal experiences of refugees, examines issues such as internment and resettlement after WW2, and crucially, the BCRC/CRTF’s dwindling resources with which to support the various cohorts of needy refugees. The CRTF was still in a position to assist the next group of Czech refugees following the Communist coup in 1948, but not a third group who arrived in Britain in 1968 after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies. The book critically evaluates the successes as well as failures of the BCRC/CRTF, and concludes that, despite the many problems, the CRTF offered a unique service to refugees in its care in times of need.