If You have to go

Dedicated to all those who lost their friends, love, relatives and neighbors

The Novotný family can't longer live in Czechoslovakia and pretend that communism is great and they were doing well, it was not true and everyone knew it. They had it worse because they are Christians, which meant that they were insulted by people devoted to communism, like teachers, people in offices, or higher-ranking workers in the company, but the worst was the frequent interrogations by STB policemen. Novotny had a dream to live in America. Getting from the ČSSR to the West was complicated in the 70s. The communist authorities tried to reduce emigration to a minimum, and if someone was released from the wired Soviet territory, his relatives (spouse, children) had to stay at home as hostages, as insurance, and if the person did not return, then the family was over. A passport was not enough to travel, an exit clause and a promise of foreign currency were also required, all of that was conditioned by many assessments on the basis of which the state apparatus decided. 3 people knew about the emigration: Monica's brother Petr, Tomáš's sister Lucie and friend Karel. They went to the station, where several checks awaited them and also in train. They got across a border to Austria, where Jakub and Sára waited, they lived there for a while and then quickly to USA. When they saw Statue of Liberty from the plane window, they cried. Even life in new homeland isn't easy, but in America it is wonderful. The Novotnys changed their name to Newman and opened a shoe store in Brooklyn.

Story added by jakubduda on November 30, 2022