Travel Document CSSR 1955

A very interesting travel document from Cold War times CSSR in 1955, which is now in the collection of my Czech friend Vladimir. This document I saw only twice. I was fortunate to grab this one and saw another one in the collection of my Slovak friend, Zbysek.

We can assume that the bearer of this Identity Travel Card was probably as Sudenten German as we can see a stamp of a German refugee camp. He relocated to West Germany. There is also an Allied Military Government visa for the Western Occupation Zones.

German Bohemians

German-speaking residents of the Bohemian Crown, referred to as German Bohemians and German Moravians (known as Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer in German and čeští Němci a moravští Němci in Czech), later became known as Sudeten Germans (Sudetendeutsche in German and sudetští Němci in Czech). These ethnic Germans inhabited the Czech lands within the Bohemian Crown, which eventually became an integral part of Czechoslovakia.

Before 1945, the population of German Bohemians exceeded three million, constituting approximately 23% of the entire country’s population and about 29.5% of the population in the regions of Bohemia and Moravia. The migration of ethnic Germans into the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electoral territory of the Holy Roman Empire, began in the 11th century, primarily in the border areas of what would later be known as the “Sudetenland,” a name derived from the Sudeten Mountains.

Relocation

Following World War II, the majority of the German-speaking population in Czechoslovakia, who were predominantly Roman Catholic with only a small Protestant minority, were forcibly relocated to Germany and Austria.

I am glad the document is in the fine collection of my friend, who collects all types of Czech passports, and this one was missing.

Travel Document CSSR 1955

Warsaw Pact Travel during the Cold War

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