We continue Drea Hahn’s story with her family’s escape to Austria and the realities of being a refugee.
In 1986, under the pretext of a “ski trip” to Yugoslavia Drea’s family escaped to Austria. We hear about the sadness of being unable to tell anyone they were leaving and how her relatives were summoned to the police station to be detained for questioning. They didn’t communicate with anyone at “home” until 1989 or 1990 because it was too dangerous.
Once, in Austria, there was no certainty that that Drea’s family wouldn’t be handed back to Czechoslovakia as Austria was neutral and the government was keen to stay on good terms with their neighbours.
Drea’s family were in Austria for about 2 years living in a single room with a shared bathroom. We hear from her about the challenges of life as a child refugee in rural Austria.
In 1988 permission was granted to emigrate to the US and we hear of the elation when they arrive in the US.
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I am delighted to welcome back Drea Hahn to our Cold War conversation…
If you can’t wait for next week’s episode, visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook.
If you can’t wait for next week’s episode, visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook.
Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated.