Abstract
This presentation is focused on perception of home from the point of two generations of people who were forced to leave their homes and emigrate behind the Iron Curtain due to Asanace operation. Some of them settled in the host country, others re-emigrated after the collapse of the communist regime.
Asanace was the cover name for operation led by the Czechoslovak State Security and its aim was to force dissidents, mostly signatories of the Charter 77, to emigrate behind borders of the country. Means used within Asanace operation ranged from psychological pressure, often in combination with threats and extortion, to physical violence.
Approximately 280 signatories of Charter 77 left Czechoslovakia due to Asanace operation between 1978 and 1984. Research cohort comprises 16 people, ten are direct victims of Asanace operation, six are their children who experienced emigration together with their parents.
Eight people currently live in the Czech Republic, eight live in the host country. In-depth interviews were analysed using open and axial coding.
Aim of this presentation is to examine how, according to people who experienced emigration, the perception of home is formed or defined and if they feel like home in the place where they currently live. It will also try to describe how it felt to leave home and start building a new one, what influenced the decision whether to stay at the host country or re-emigrate and what is their relationship to the countries where they spent part of their lives.