I took this high on the hill of the Bratislava Castle (Hrad) looking west. Bratislava straddles both sides of the Danube at the bottom of the picture. In the distance are the aluminum windmills generating power in eastern Austria. The border between Slovakia and Austria is just a few miles from the Castle, but that escape route to the west was blocked with heavy fortifications before the fall of communism in 1989. I understand there were double fences, one electrified, with a heavy military presence to block escape.
A little to the north of this Castle, high on a hill overlooking the Danube, are the crumbling remnants of the medieval Devin Castle, the site of another communist-era outpost. I hear from locals that the communists stood guard there, watching for Slovaks attempting to escape north on the Danube to freedom in Vienna, with sharpshooters aiming at people in the river. I do not have my own picture yet, but here is information from the Bratislava City website: http://www.bratislava.sk/en/vismo5/dokumenty2.asp?u=700000&id_org=700000&id=2006014
People readily move across the Austrian border today, but they face a different set of hurdles attempting to visit the U.S. We, as U.S. citizens, can visit Slovakia with merely a passport; no visa is required for visits up to 90 days. (Fulbrighters are here on residence permits they arranged for us.) But Slovaks visiting the U.S. must obtain a visa from the U.S. Embassy. When President Bush visited Bratislava in February 2005 (the first visit ever from a U.S. President), he thanked the Slovaks for sending 100 soldiers to the “Coalition of the Willing” for the Iraq war, and he promised that Slovakia would get priority in waiving visa requirements for visiting the U.S. Over two years later, the Slovaks have not forgotten that promise, but they seem to think President Bush has.
Here is the State Department news release on that 2005 visit: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=February&x=20050224161237btruevecer0.7643549
At the Embassy reception on 9/11, I remember the Ambassador making what seemed like very delicately phrased references to “the visa issues,” directed to the Slovak Prime Minister. Now I understand how raw that issue is with the Slovaks.
When the Prime Minister visited the White House in March 2006, the issue came up again. The State Department posted a press release that acknowledges how pressing this issue is for Slovaks: http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2006/Mar/14-970213.html
Here is an update on the visa issue in the Slovak Spectator from June 2007: http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok-28235.html
A long line of people every morning outside the U.S. Embassy waits to apply for visas to visit the U.S.
One of our guest lecturers during Fulbright orientation this week told us horrifying stories about the humiliating interview one must endure to get a U.S. visa. While talking to the visa clerk, in clear earshot of dozens of other Slovaks waiting for their interviews, all sorts of personal questions about income and family are asked. As U.S. citizens, we thought that our Privacy Act restrictions would prevent such a thing for us and wondered why the same courtesy was not extended to the Slovaks to at least have their interview in private. We certainly understand the fear of admitting terrorists to the U.S. after 9/11, but wondered why the U.S. could not show a little more courtesy and respect to people trying to enter the country for legitimate purposes.
During President Bush’s visit in 2005, he met with President Putin of Russia in one of the rooms here inside Bratislava Castle. Apparently it is a high-security room, not open to visitors, so we could only peer through what appeared to be thick security glass.
Here’s the U.S. Embassy’s press release about the 2005 visit: http://www.usembassy.sk/topic/20050224_bps/index.php?touch=flow&i=01&si=01&sm=1&tdi=art04.html
NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.
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