“Soviet tourists always stuck together in groups” (still from the film “The Diamond Arm”)
Doctor of Historical Sciences and author of the book “Through the ‘Iron Curtain’. Russo Turisto: Soviet Outbound Tourism, 1955-1991” Igor Orlov told a journalist from Gazeta.Ru about the nuances of Soviet outbound tourism.
– When did outbound tourism first appear in the USSR?
– It appeared in the early 1930s after the creation of “Sovtur”, which dealt with both domestic and foreign tourism. However, until 1955, there were no outbound trips in the USSR, except for organized steamship cruises for top workers by Sovtur in 1930-1931.
– What is the revival of international tourism in the USSR in the mid-1950s connected with?
– Many factors influenced this. Firstly, it is connected with the easing of international relations after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. In the 1950s, a tourism revolution swept the world, and the USSR sought to reposition itself on the international stage after the death of the leader and with the rise to power of Nikita Khrushchev. Outbound tourism became one way for the USSR to establish itself as a world power.
On the other hand, the Soviet leadership was well aware of the potential economic effect of organizing foreign trips. It was in the 1950s under Nikita Khrushchev that tourism was seen as an economically beneficial sphere.
– How did the process of processing a Soviet citizen for travel abroad go? Did visas exist at that time?
– There was no visa system, and with the countries of the socialist camp there was even a visa-free regime. I would not call the process of preparing a Soviet citizen for travel abroad “processing”. It was a real selection, carried out according to clear criteria.
The readiness of a person who was going abroad was checked at various levels: from the trade union to the Central Committee of the party. There was a special system of various briefings, during which the person signed that they would not disclose information, and also had to familiarize themselves with a certain set of rules. In addition, the potential tourist had to pass something like an exam. For example, if a person was going to the GDR, they had to name the chairman of the Communist Party of Germany. They could be asked a more specific question: what did the chairman of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Erich Honecker, say at the last congress? Sometimes these things were formal and did not affect the trip, and sometimes they could become an obstacle. As a rule, selection at the level of the Komsomol or party organization already weeded out some part of the candidates for travel.
– How often were Soviet citizens denied travel abroad and for what reasons? Do you know any interesting cases in this regard?
– I don’t know the exact number, but if there were refusals, they came from the KGB. It also happened that a potential tourist did not pass a medical examination. In these cases, travel abroad was prohibited. But there were also many opposite examples. For instance, when people somehow managed to pass a medical examination despite having health problems. There was a case where, due to a serious health condition, a person could not withstand the flight and died abroad.
I remember one curious case, more related to the scientific elite. The deputy director of one technical enterprise was invited to the USA. Usually, a Soviet citizen could not travel to Western countries more than once every three years. In the case of this scientific worker, the KGB justified the refusal by saying that he worked on a secret topic. The commission for travel clearance was surprised: why had this same scientist already visited the USA two years before, and even earlier the Netherlands? In the end, the scientist was still denied travel. Most likely, the KGB officers had their own reasons for not allowing a particular citizen, which they did not disclose.
– Which destinations were the most popular among Soviet citizens?
– There were three countries: from the socialist camp – Bulgaria; from the capitalist – Finland, with which the USSR had a semi-open border and a well-established vodka tourism; from the third world – India. At different periods, the GDR and Hungary were also popular among Soviet tourists. Bulgaria is very similar to Russia: Soviet tourists were always treated well there, there was no language barrier. Hence the popular saying: “A chicken is not a bird, Bulgaria is not abroad.”
Soviet tourists really felt at home there. The USSR also had very good relations with India. During the second and third Indo-Pakistani conflicts in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Soviet leadership sided with India, which affected the latter’s popularity as a tourist destination. Tours of Soviet film industry workers to India became quite common.
– Can you name the most exotic countries that Soviet tourists went to?
– The Cuba – Mexico tour can be called exotic. Groups of 19 people per year went there. Quite unusual tours were to North Korea, where there was strict control. For example, one Soviet tourist had their film confiscated at the border there. Countries of the African continent were also considered exotic: Liberia, Algeria. Soviet tourists rarely traveled to China and Japan, but even there special tours were organized.
– In Soviet films, our tourists are shown as white crows, awkward, wary. Was that really the case?
– If we take, perhaps, the most popular Soviet film about outbound tourism – Leonid Gaidai's "The Diamond Arm" – and its famous phrase "Russo turisto! Obliko morale!", the image of Soviet tourists created there is close to reality. The director managed to convey the linguistic clumsiness of our travelers. The film also plays well on the so-called walking together – Soviet tourists indeed always stuck together in groups.
Despite the fact that in reality our tourists often deviated from the rules and violated regulations, overall their behavior in cinema is portrayed quite accurately.
– Surely abroad, Soviet tourists had various funny incidents. For example, they got lost, or couldn't make themselves understood in a foreign language, or forgot things or documents somewhere. Can you give an example?
– All sorts of things happened to Soviet tourists! For instance, in Prague, two tipsy Soviet citizens smashed a restaurant window, stole a cake, and fled. Soviet tourists often held late-night drinking parties. Another detail seems amusing to me. Soviet tourists usually did not receive currency in advance – from the airport they went to the hotel, and only there, after a briefing, they were solemnly given money. And toilets in foreign airports were pay-per-use, so Soviet tourists had a hard time right after landing.
– During the rise of outbound tourism, the Cold War was ongoing. Did our tourists feel any political tension while abroad? Are there known cases of clashes or fights between Soviet tourists and foreigners on ideological grounds?
– Since Soviet people underwent multi-stage selection before going abroad, the likelihood of fights or clashes was minimized. Additionally, each group was assigned representatives from the security services and the travel company. Control was very strict. In each delegation, there was a group of people responsible for discussing political topics if they arose, and for distributing souvenir products. Everything was planned and regulated. The only such incident occurred in Czechoslovakia in the early 1970s. Then a translator from the Armenian branch of the Writers' Union beat up a local 66-year-old writer. In official documents, of course, the cause of the fight was not stated, but it was obviously related to the events of the Prague Spring of 1968. As soon as the writer returned to the USSR, he was immediately fired.
– What did Soviet citizens usually bring back from trips as souvenirs for their relatives, friends, and bosses?
– Souvenirs were very diverse. For the boss, they usually brought notebooks, various pens (especially popular were pens with pictures of naked women), cards with erotic images, badges, and coins. For relatives, for example, children, they most often brought toys. But mainly these were household goods and equipment: video and audio equipment, short fur coats, jeans. Especially a lot of mohair yarn was brought. Since it was prohibited for export, resourceful Soviet citizens would knit something from it (a sweater, a shawl), and at home they would unravel it, straighten it with steam, wind it into a ball, and sell it.
– In your book, you mention cases of intimate relations between Soviet tourists and foreigners. Was this a common practice? Were mixed marriages frequent?
– Marriages, of course, did not happen, but intimate relationships were a frequent occurrence. This is well shown in the Soviet-Hungarian comedy "Vacation at Your Own Expense." The central theme became the love between a Soviet girl and a Hungarian. Such a strong feeling arises between the characters that the Hungarian follows his beloved to the USSR. Of course, Soviet citizens were ordinary people: not only one-night stands occurred, but also long-term relationships. Almost no one wrote about this; it was almost shameful. Intimate relationships were most often initiated at resorts.
The most popular destination in this regard was Bulgaria. Organizers of tourist trips even tried to ensure that an equal number of men and women were sent abroad. But they never managed to do this. Groups to Bulgaria consisted of 80% women. They would arrive, meet local men, and disappear for the night. It was a shock for delegation leaders when girls did not return to the hotels for days. As the runaways later explained, they spent the whole night "collecting seashells on the beach by the sea." It got to the point that the senior members of the tour group would lock the girl in and post a guard at the door so she wouldn't go anywhere at night.
– How did Soviet tourists feel when visiting the GDR and FRG? Did the memory of the war make itself felt?
– Entire groups of veterans of the Great Patriotic War traveled to the GDR and visited places connected to their military past. Special tourist programs were organized for them, during which they visited monuments to Soviet soldiers and talked with GDR work collectives about the war. The main places to visit were former concentration camps. It must be admitted that our veterans sometimes behaved provocatively. For example, when a delegation drove through the streets of a German city, one of the veterans might start singing the famous "Katyusha" or any other song. And all this happened spontaneously. Soviet veterans said: "We came to where I fought, where my loved ones died. And now I'm driving through your streets and singing Russian songs."
– During the Cold War, the Soviet state imposed stereotypes about Western life on society. Did citizens change their views after returning from abroad? Have you come across memories of Soviet tourists who began to perceive foreign countries differently?
– There were even those who managed to “jump off” and stay abroad. Of course, many Soviet tourists wrote about what they saw and heard after their travels. But they only began publishing this in the 1990s. First, for Soviet citizens, encountering a different religious culture was a great surprise and even a shock. Second, they encountered a topic banned in the USSR – so-called open sexuality.
Finally, the third stereotype that was shattered after visiting foreign countries was the historical stereotype. Local tour guides began to tell a different story about the role in history of Charles de Gaulle, Francisco Franco, and other world leaders. A different point of view on a particular historical episode made a strong impression on Soviet tourists accustomed to a single version.
And, of course, the most amazing thing that a Soviet tourist encountered abroad was the consumer society – a society where everything is available. Foreigners called Soviet tourists Papuans because they rushed at everything; everything around them was new and amazing. Soviet tourists bought up clothes, returning with bags of second-hand goods. Girls in East Germany bought nightgowns, thinking they were fashionable sundresses – and wore them everywhere.
These examples illustrate the clash of two worlds: the Soviet society of scarcity and the foreign consumer society. Our tourists were struck by the cleanliness of the streets, the night illumination, the heated asphalt of Copenhagen. These details created the impression among Soviet tourists that abroad was not what it was presented as in the USSR.