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Czech HistoryLithuanians share their memories and regrets from the 1968 Soviet invasion
The international Mene Tekel project against totalitarianism began its
fifth year on Monday. One of the focuses this year is on the Baltic state
of Lithuania and the memories of Lithuanians who served in the Soviet
occupation of Czechoslovakia. Christian Falvey has this week’s Czech
History. More
SpecialThe 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia through the eyes of Soviet troops
August 21 marks the anniversary of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by
the Soviet Union and other communist countries. The occupation crushed an
attempt to reform the communist regime, and drove the country into two
decades of hard-line rule. What that all meant to the people of
Czechoslovakia has been looked at many times. In our special programme
today, we look at August 1968 from another perspective: that of the
occupiers.
More
Current AffairsMonument unveiled to Polish 'human torch' protestor against Soviet invasion
A monument was unveiled in Prague on Friday morning to Ryszard Siwiec, the
Polish man who set himself alight in September 1968 in protest at his
country’s participation in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Siwiec committed suicide in Warsaw just weeks after the invasion and six
months before the Czech student Jan Palach made his own terrible sacrifice
in Prague. The monument was unveiled on the eve of the 42nd anniversary of
the invasion.
More
SpecialA world full of seekers: Christmas before and after the fall of communism
Exactly 20 years ago, Czechs and Slovaks were celebrating their first
Christmas for four decades without a hint of official
disapproval. While
the communists tolerated the trappings of Christmas – with Christmas
trees and traditional Czech Christmas carp in abundance – their tolerance
of Christian traditions was never more than skin deep. In the 1950s,
priests and members of religious orders were often locked up for their
beliefs, and the brief reforms of the 1960s were followed by another wave
of persecution, following the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. For this
programme I’m going to be talking to two people, who remember only too
well what it meant to be a practising Christian in communist
Czechoslovakia. They are the Protestant pastor, former Dean of the
Protestant Theological Faculty of Prague’s Charles University and former
dissident, Jakub Trojan, and the British translator Gerry Turner, who has
lived in Prague for many years and has had close links with the churches
here since before the fall of communism.
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