Foreign Workers in Czechoslovakia in 1945–1950

DVOŘÁK, Tomáš. Foreign Workers in Czechoslovakia in 1945–1950. AUSTRIAN HISTORY YEARBOOK. UNITED STATES: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2024, neuveden. ISSN 0067-2378. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0067237824000365.

Basic information

• Original name: Foreign Workers in Czechoslovakia in 1945–1950
• Name in Czech: Zahraniční dělníci v Československu 1945–1950
• Name (in English): Foreign Workers in Czechoslovakia in 1945–1950
• Authors: DVOŘÁK, Tomáš.
• Edition: AUSTRIAN HISTORY YEARBOOK, UNITED STATES, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2024, 0067-2378.

Other information

• Original language: Czech
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60101 History
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: on-line verze First view article
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 0.400 in 2022
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0067237824000365
• Keywords (in Czech): zahraniční dělníci, pracovní politika, plánované hospodářství, poválečné Československo
• Keywords in English: foreign workers, labor policy, planned economy, postwar Czechoslovakia
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Foreign workers were a common feature in the economy of postwar Czechoslovakia in various periods of the second half of the twentieth century. This article focuses on foreign labor practices during the first economic plans, namely the two-year plan and the first five-year plan between 1947 and 1950. The number of foreign workers at this time didn't exceed twenty thousand persons and their stays in the country were, with only individual exceptions, short. Workers, who found employment in Czechoslovak agriculture and industry in this period, came from different countries including neighboring Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania, but also from Italy. Recruitment of other groups such as workers from Hungary, the Netherlands, or even China is also considered by the article. These foreign laborers worked in Czechoslovakia under various conditions depending on their methods of recruitment and contracting, the duration of their employment, and other important factors. The basic question this article aims to answer is what the role of Gastarbeit was in Czechoslovakia's communist economic policy. It also examines the motivations of countries that sent workers as well as those of the workers themselves. Finally, the article also attempts to analyze the opportunities and limits of these workers’ strategies in the Czechoslovak labor market.

Abstract (in English)

Foreign workers were a common feature in the economy of postwar Czechoslovakia in various periods of the second half of the twentieth century. This article focuses on foreign labor practices during the first economic plans, namely the two-year plan and the first five-year plan between 1947 and 1950. The number of foreign workers at this time didn't exceed twenty thousand persons and their stays in the country were, with only individual exceptions, short. Workers, who found employment in Czechoslovak agriculture and industry in this period, came from different countries including neighboring Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania, but also from Italy. Recruitment of other groups such as workers from Hungary, the Netherlands, or even China is also considered by the article. These foreign laborers worked in Czechoslovakia under various conditions depending on their methods of recruitment and contracting, the duration of their employment, and other important factors. The basic question this article aims to answer is what the role of Gastarbeit was in Czechoslovakia's communist economic policy. It also examines the motivations of countries that sent workers as well as those of the workers themselves. Finally, the article also attempts to analyze the opportunities and limits of these workers’ strategies in the Czechoslovak labor market.

Links

• GA18-10694S, research and development project: Name: Pracovní politika a regulace pracovního trhu v Československu 1945-1953 (Acronym: pracovní síly)

Investor: Czech Science Foundation