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Letter from PragueMy parents’ ‘68
This week no topic in the Czech Republic was more dominant than the 40th
anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. On August 21st,
tanks and soldiers moved in, and forever changed the course of the
country,
crushing reforms that had made life in Czechoslovakia tolerable compared
to
the Stalinist 1950s. But all too soon, the reforms came to an end. In the
weeks which followed, many Czechs and Slovaks opted to escape, among them
my parents – only a few years married. They were among the first to
leave: that same night of the 21st crossing the Austrian border in a
borrowed car – an East German-made Trabant – that would see them all
the way through to Paris. More
Current AffairsCzech state honours for foreign dissidents who protested against 1968 invasion
Soviet propaganda described the invasion of Czechoslovakia as “brotherly
help” to a nation threatened by “counter-revolutionary forces”, and
the Warsaw Pact forces that occupied the country in August 1968 came from
Russia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. But not all the
citizens of those countries agreed with the invasion, and several of them
risked their lives to protest against Moscow’s crackdown. On Thursday,
nine of them received medals in gratitude from Czech prime minister Mirek
Topolánek.
More
Current AffairsEnvironmental damage caused by Soviet troops not yet fully repaired
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia resulted in a permanent Soviet
military presence on Czech soil. Between 1968 and 1991 –when the last of
the Soviet troops finally left the country – they operated in 73
localities. The environmental damage they caused is taking years to repair
and has already cost billions of crowns. Jakub Kašpar is a spokesman for
the Czech Environment Ministry:
More
Current AffairsCzech Radio marks fortieth anniversary of Soviet-led invasion
August 21st, 2008 marks 40 years since Warsaw pact troops moved into
Czechoslovakia, crushing the reform movement known as the Prague Spring.
The invasion shocked many Czechs who came to the defence of the
Czechoslovak Radio building (now Czech Radio) on Vinohradská Street.
Dominik Jun was there in the run up to the commemoration and filed this
report.
More
Current AffairsWarsaw-Pact invasion recreated at National Museum
Exhibitions have been taking place all over Prague recently to commemorate
the Warsaw-Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968. But perhaps
the biggest of all the displays was unveiled on Thursday, exactly 40 years
after the Soviet tanks rolled in. ‘… And the tanks arrived’ sees
Prague’s National Museum – to this day a symbol of the occupation –
returned to the way it looked in 1968. For one month only, a 1960’s-style
kiosk, vintage cars, and of course, a Soviet tank stand outside the museum.
More
From the ArchivesJiří Dienstbier remembers a fateful day
Because August 21 is the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the radio played such a central role in the
events of those dramatic days, in this edition of From the Archives we
shall be hearing the memories of one of the key journalists involved in
those dramatic events. Jiří Dienstbier was one of Czechoslovak Radio’s
star reporters at the time. Later he was to become one of the best-known
dissidents of the ‘70s and ‘80s, and after the Velvet Revolution he was
the country’s first post-communist foreign minister. On the morning of
August 21 1968, he was one of several radio journalists, playing a
cat-and-mouse game with the Soviet occupiers, as the Soviets tried to
silence the radio station. In some of the recordings that survive, you can
hear quite distinctly tanks and machine-gun fire in the background.
More
Special40th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia
This August 21st marks 40 years since the invasion of Czechoslovakia by
Warsaw Pact troops, an invasion meticulously planned by the Soviet Union to
crush the period of economic and political reforms known as the Prague
Spring. Within hours of late August 20th and early August 21st some 2,000
tanks as well as an estimated 200,000 troops had poured in. It was the
beginning of the occupation which changed the course of Czechoslovak
history.
More
Current AffairsDora Slabá on “paper tiger” of Prague Spring and invasion that crushed it
All this week we’re broadcasting memories of those who lived through the
Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, which began around 11pm on August 20th
1968. Today we hear from one of our predecessors here at the Radio Prague
English Section, Dora Slabá. August 20th 1968 was a normal working day for
Dora, who worked as a presenter. When she went home that day she had no way
of knowing that she would never come back to Radio Prague. She begins by
describing the atmosphere on that perfect summer day in 1968.
More
Current AffairsCzechs reflect on Russia’s growing influence at launch of new exhibition
Several of Josef Koudelka’s 1968 photos are being shown at the Mánes
gallery, by the River Vltava, in a new exhibition entitled 1945 –
Liberation, 1968 – Occupation. Two rooms of iconic black and white
photographs show two very different sets of images: the Red Army greeted
with smiles and flowers in May 1945, and Russian soldiers berated by angry
crowds in August 1968. So how do the people looking at these images feel
about today's Russia, especially in the light of the current situation in
Georgia?
More
SpecialAn illusion of normality: Liz Skelton remembers Radio Prague after the invasion
When Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in the night from August 20-21 1968,
the Czechoslovak Radio building was one of the first places that they tried
to bring under control. In the process the building was damaged, several
people were killed and dozens injured. Broadcasts went on in secret for
several days, keeping the world informed of what was really happening,
initially from within the building itself, and then from other locations in
the city, using mobile studios and transmitters.
More
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