A Comparison of
Eastern European
Anti-communist
Exiles
By Martin Nekola, Ph.D.

1945 -1948 → communist parties in
power → massive refugee wave to
the West → formation of anticommunist exiles

Cold war exiles:

- 1945-1989

- Albanians, Bulgarians,
Croatians, Czechs, Estonians,
Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians,
Poles, Romanians, Serbs,
Slovenians and many others…

Exile centers: Munich, Paris,
London, Ottawa, New York,
Washington D.C.
Comparison of the exiles, criteria:

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Organizations
Leaders
financial background
forms of propaganda
efforts and aims
involvement in supranational projects
recognition from Western authorities
support among the exile public
Exile politics:

Political parties

National committees

Supranational organizations
- internationals
1. Political parties

restoration of dissolved political
parties in exile conditions

First Activities in Refugee camps

Lack of funding and skilled
people

Internal problems
2. National committees

Formation 1947 - 1951

former politicians, diplomats,
government officials,
journalists, scientists…

Propaganda, information,
cultural and memorial events,
Lobbying western officials

1947
- Polish National Democratic Council (Polski
Komitet Narodowo Demokratyczny)
- Hungarian National Committee


(Magyar Nemzeti Bizottmány)

1948
- Romanian National Committee
 (Comitetului National Român)

1949
- Council of a Free Czechoslovakia
 (Rada svobodného Československa)
- Committee for a Free Albania
 (Komitetit Kombetar Shqipëria e Lirë )
- Bulgarian National Committee - Free and
Independent Bulgaria

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1951
(Bulgarski Nacionalen Komitet - Svobodna i
nezavisima Bulgaria
- National Commitee for a Free Latvia
(Komiteja latvijas brīvībai)
- National Committee for a Free Lithuania
(Lietuvos laisvės komitetas)
- National Commitee for a Free Estonia
(Vaba Eesti Komitee)
3. internationals

Supranational cooperation of socialists,
agrarians, liberals, christian democrats
already in the interwar period


After ww2:
New International Teams (Nouvelles
Équipes Internationales – NEI)

World Liberal Union (WLU)

Committee of the International Socialist
Conference (COMISCO)

International Federation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU)

Christian Democratic Union of Central
Europe (CDUCE)

International Peasant Union (IPU)

Socialist Union of Central – Eastern Europe
(SUCEE)

Liberal-Democratic Union of Central-Eastern
Europe (LDUCEE)

International Federation of Free Trade
Unions in Exile (ICFTUE)

Professional internationals: journalists,
academicians, students, former political
prisoners, youth, women…
Thank you for your
attention…