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Current AffairsAugust 21, 1968: the hopes of a generation crushed
On August 21 1968, people woke up to discover that the dream of freedom
they were living in the late 1960s had turned into a nightmare. Thirty-nine
years ago, the streets of Prague and other cities and towns in
Czechoslovakia were full of the tanks and soldiers of five armies led by
the Soviet Union. Today, we look back at the anniversary of what for Czechs
and Slovaks was one of the formative moments of the 20th century.
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Current AffairsPrague Spring of 1968: a time of expectations
The second half of the 1960s in Czechoslovakia was a time of change. Things
were happening that had not been seen, or even heard of, for almost two
decades, since the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took over the country
in February 1948. Twenty years later, people in Czechoslovakia began to
wonder whether Soviet-type of 'socialism' was the only way to go. On the
eve of the anniversary of the crushing of that movement, we look back at a
momentous era in modern Czech history.
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One on OneLeslie Woodhead - the filmmaker who specialised in portraying life behind
British director Leslie Woodhead first made a name for himself as a
reporter for the popular 1960s World in Action current affairs programme
at Britain's Granada television. He has also made a number of acclaimed
documentaries and is considered one of the pioneers of the docudrama
genre, which comprises dramatised recreations of real events. This was a
particularly popular format in the 1970s and 80s during the Cold War, as
it allowed journalists and filmmakers to cover events "behind the
wall" in the Soviet Bloc despite not being able to have any direct
access to their subject matter. More
Current AffairsMPs agree on compensation for victims of 1968 Soviet-led invasion
Victims of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of the former Czechoslovakia may
finally win compensation. The lower house of the Czech parliament has
approved a bill, now awaiting Senate approval, which would provide
compensation to relatives of those killed during the invasion, as well as
to those killed, raped or injured by Soviet or Warsaw Pact troops who
occupied the country until 1991. More
WitnessMargita Kollarova - Dubcek's address to the nation and a silence that spoke more than words
For this week's Witness we return again to the events of August 1968. As
Soviet troops crushed the Prague Spring on the 21st August, the entire
Czechoslovak leadership was spirited away to Moscow for what were
euphemistically described as talks. Five days later, exactly 35 years ago,
they returned, broken and bullied into signing a document that effectively
legitimized the occupation of the country. The Communist Party First
Secretary and leading force of the reforms, Alexander Dubcek, gave a radio
address to the nation on the 27th August, immediately after his return
from Moscow. He appealed for calm and understanding, but as the speech
went on - in one of the most chilling moments of the entire period of
August '68 - Dubcek gradually broke down. The speech was interrupted by
long silences. This extraordinary and unnerving address was being recorded
by Czechoslovak Radio's parliamentary correspondent of the time, Margita
Kollarova. Here she remembers the moment.
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Czechs in HistoryThe Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia and the crushing of the Prague Spring
It has been thirty-five years since Soviet troops began entering
Czechoslovakia late on August 20th and early August 21st in a carefully
orchestrated invasion designed to crush the period of political and
economic reforms known as the Prague Spring, reforms led by the country's
new First Secretary of the Communist party Alexander Dubcek. A movement
viewed by Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet hard-liners in Moscow as a
serious threat to the Soviet Union's hold on the Socialist satellite
states, they decided to act. In the first hours on the 21st Soviet planes
began to land unexpectedly at Prague's Ruzyne airport, and shortly Soviet
tanks would roll through Prague's narrow streets. Within hours foreign
troops would take up strategic positions throughout the city, including
surrounding the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party,
taking hold of Wenceslas Square, and eventually taking over Czechoslovak
radio and television. The occupation of '68 had begun.
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Current AffairsDubcek and Brezhnev: the last conversation
35 years ago just before midnight on 20th August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled
into Czechoslovakia, bringing the brief reforms of the Prague Spring to an
abrupt and violent end, shattering the dreams of the reformist leader
Alexander Dubcek and millions of Czechs and Slovaks. Dubcek had grown up
in the Soviet Union, believed passionately in the ideals of communism, and
was sincere in his dream of "socialism with a human face". But
Dubcek was also naïve. He never dreamed that his beloved Soviet Union
would resort to invading his homeland, to halt the process of reform. A
week before that nightmare became a reality the Soviet leader Leonid
Brezhnev phoned Dubcek from Yalta in the Crimea. The two spoke together in
Russian, their last conversation before the occupation.
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WitnessJana Rejskova remembers the "human face" of Alexander Dubcek
Alexander Dubcek is one of the myths in the post-war history of Czechoslovakia. Some see his attempt in 1968 to introduce "socialism with a human face" as a brave experiment, others as naive folly, but on one thing there is consensus. As a man, Dubcek was warm and likable. In the light of the Soviet invasion that followed, there is an almost unbearable poignancy to the broad smile that we so often see in television footage of Dubcek from the time of the Prague Spring. The following story gives some insight into Alexander Dubcek as a person. The professional interpreter Jana Rejskova remembers interpreting for him at an event a couple of years after the fall of communism, not long before his death, when Dubcek was once more in public office, but didn't seem to relish all the trappings.
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