Why were there so many people from Vietnam coming to Czechoslovakia in the last century? What did these two countries have in common?

The number of Vietnamese minorities in Czechia was on the rise since the 1950s. In the beginning, it mainly consisted of Vietnamese students with stipends or war orphans.

Although both countries have been affected by the air of communism and socialism, the way of life in these regions cannot be compared now nor before.

In the 1980s Czechoslovakia and Vietnam agreed on a labor exchange program where a lot of Vietnamese people got a chance to emigrate and get employed in factories. The recovery after the war wasn’t an easy process and immigrating to Europe began as a stepping stone for everyone coming here.

It was beneficial for both sides as the Czechoslovak government also gained some labor force. This exchange program was a great shot at having better life not only for themselves but also for heir family. These people had no intention of staying too long. As soon as the agreement ended most of them planned to return back home.

Altough Vietnamese people had a pretty much similiar beginning: immigrate to Czechoslovakia, get a better education, get apprenticed, get hired, make a living, and support their family back home; everybody’s experience was different.

As human beings we perceive the same things differently than others, we’re affected by things and deal with them in different ways. The obstacles during this wave were not the same for everybody.

References:

NGUYEN, M.C. (2019): Defining “vietnamese-ness”: a cross-generational debate on the identity of vietnamese immigrants in the Czech Republic. Bachelor‘s thesis. School of journalism, media & visual arts. Anglo-American University.