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I thought this might be something interesting to the rest of reddit, but I know it's personally interesting for me. I've always been fascinated by the way my mom's side of the family came to the United States, and seeing these documents meant a lot to me.

A little backstory:

After Christmas dinner two years ago, the topic of conversation somehow made its way to the story of how my grandparents on my mom's side escaped Czechoslovakia in 1964 and eventually made their way to the United States to start a new life away from the reach of the Soviets. Over the years, my grandma's story has changed, but what remains are a few constants that I feel comfortable believing as fact:

After living under both Nazi and Soviet occupation for most of their lives, my grandparents decided they wanted to escape to the West. My grandfather got permission for him, his wife, and their children to travel to Austria for a vacation/business trip in 1964, with the actual intention of escaping. Their parents and siblings chose to remain in Prague, however, and many of them would pass away before they could be reunited after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The travel to Austria was generally uneventful, and after arriving my grandfather got in contact with family who lived in the country, arranging to move in with them. He also approached the Austrian embassy about their predicament, at which point he was informed that the Austrian government had a deal with the Soviets to send fleeing Czechs back behind the Iron Curtain, and that they wouldn't be able to help him.

Almost a year after escaping to Austria, my grandparents again decided to escape, this time to Germany. The story here keeps changing about specifically how it happened, but in the end they arrived safely in West Germany in late 1965. My grandfather this time went to the United States embassy, looking to bring his family over to the States where his cousin lived and was willing to help them start a new life. It took nearly a year, but they finally arrived in New York in the summer of 1966.

Fun fact: My mom was born and celebrated her first birthday in Czechoslovakia, her second birthday in Austria, her third birthday in Germany, and her fourth birthday in the United States.