The Dynamics of Forced Female Migration from Czechoslovakia to Britain, 1938-1950

The study of Czechoslovak women refugees in Britain is noticeably missing from current research and Anglo-Czechoslovak historiography. This book by Jana Barbora Buresova explores the diverse experiences, dilemmas and contributions to Britain of these women within a socio-political context, commencing with the 1938 Munich Agreement that precipitated exile.

An essential difference between this and many other studies of exile is the focus on nationality (Czechoslovak) and gender (women), rather than either element alone. Moreover, archival research is complemented by oral interviews with former refugees, presenting a more detailed and nuanced approach to their experiences, including wartime roles in the armed services, Czechoslovak Red Cross, women’s organizations and patriotic cultural societies.

Jana Barbora Buresova is a committee member of the Research Centre for German & Austrian Exile Studies at the Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR), University of London, where she was awarded a Martin Miller and Hannah Norbert-Miller Bursary for Doctoral Study. She is also involved in the Association of Jewish Refugees’ audio-visual Holocaust Testimony Archive project.

The Dynamics of Forced Female Migration from Czechoslovakia to Britain, 1938-1950
ISBN 978-1-78874-446-1; xxii, 330pp; 24 fig. b/w; 2019 
is published by Peter Lang.