Abstrakt
After the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia, the new leaders both in Prague and in Warsaw (after 1970) had all reasons to restart their relations. However, due to their pledge to elevate living conditions, they pushed their economic interests in bilateral relations strongly.
One of the most robust fields of cooperation was in the labor force. Whereas in the 1960s both countries expressed their satisfaction with the program, in the 1970s the feeling of being deceived and economically abused by each other prevailed.
In this chapter, I study the paradox between the attitude full of suspicion on the state level (accompanied by slogans of international friendship, though) and the flourishing non-official relations of ordinary citizens. After isolationism in the Stalin era and somewhat sporadic contacts in the 1960s, the relations between Czechoslovaks and Poles finally normalized on the grassroots level, although in a different way than the ruling elite would wish.