#tuzex

[lukasberan]

[lukasberan]

[hulkowaaa]

pražský Majáles, 1965/Prague Majáles festival, 1965

“Vyměním sex za Tuzex/ I'll trade sex for *Tuzex” 

( *special shops with western goods in communist Czechoslovakia)

[emmapalova]

NANOWRIMO 2019 dAY 14

NANOWRIMO 2019 dAY 14

Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West with excerpt

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- Big day today. I unlocked the NaNoWriMo 14- day writing badge logging in 2,992 words with a re-worked chapter from the “Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West memoir.”

https://www.nanowrimo.org

The memoir about our family immigration saga took us back from the U.S. to hardline communist…

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[justpackandleave]

There were three categories of stores in Czechoslovakia: There were the normal stores where everyone could shop.  These stores often had little merchandise.  When they did have something good to sell, word got around, a long line formed, and the inventory was quickly sold. There were also very good stores with better goods and more inventory restricted for high-ranking Communists. Then there were special stores named Tuzex (or Pewex in Poland and Intershops in East Germany).  These stores had an assortment of Western luxury goods including food, liquor, fashionable clothing, stereo equipment and even a new Western European car. I bought Italian Rifle brand jeans, German Tabac underarm deodorant spray and a Hi-Fi (no, not Wi-Fi) turntable to play records. But with such a wonderful store, there was of course a catch.  They didn't accept Czechoslovak currency.  Shoppers had to bring special vouchers called odběrní poukaz (or in slang, Tuzexový bon) to shop in this special store.  You had to show your vouchers to the doorman to even enter the store. There were two ways to obtain those nice Tuzexovy bon vouchers.  First, if you traveled to a non-communist country, you had three days after your return to exchange your unused foreign currency, and instead of giving you Czechoslovakian currency, the government gave you these vouchers which expired in one year. The purpose of the Tuzex store was to remove hard currency from circulation.  It enticed people to exchange their foreign currency for highly desirable and difficult to obtain merchandise. The second way to obtain vouchers was to buy them on the black market.  Just walk near the store and look around for the government guy who is standing off to the side wearing clothes a little nicer than everyone else.  This guy would be somehow connected to the secret police, perhaps an informer.  He would be making extra income by selling vouchers for Czechoslovakian currency.  It wasn't legal, but you could trust him.  It was done openly near the store.