ABSTRACT
Hardly any European country managed to acquire an image of being an island of democracy and a refuge for people fleeing Nazism other than Czechoslovakia in the mid to late 1930s. But a closer look at contemporary sources documenting the everyday experiences of unknown refugees from Nazi Germany and, later, Austria reveals that one should be sceptical about this deep-rooted myth. The plight of the German refugees created a wave of solidarity among Czechoslovaks, but as in all other catastrophic events that receive intense media coverage, within a few months the topic soon became annoying to readers. The sum that Schmolka was asking for reflects the rather small number of refugees from Nazi Germany. The geographical proximity, with the long common border with Germany in mountainous terrain, and the non-visa regime between Germany and Czechoslovakia enabled even poor refugees to flee to Czechoslovakia.
