Current Affairs Remembering the Soviet invasion - 36 years later

The commemoration of the Soviet-led invasion in 1968 in front of the Czech Radio building, photo: CTK Among the people who came to the gathering were politicians, Czech Radio staff, as well as many other people who feel it is important to remember these events every year. Jiri Dienstbier Czechoslovak Foreign Minister from the early nineties, worked as a Czech Radio reporter in 1968. I asked him to recall what he was doing on 21 August of that year.

"We broadcasted, and of course, lots of contacts were cut, so we couldn't listen to the foreign news. Mainly we just went to the windows and reported directly what's happening here. It was incredible, they were shooting in the windows here and so...But what was important, we then left the building and we were able to keep the radio on the air for the whole week from different places in Prague."

August 1968, the tank in front of the National Museum Czech Radio was a vital tool for communication with the public, so the occupants were anxious to cut the link.

"It was the only link among the people. We interconnected all the radio stations in Czechoslovakia; all the stations were given times, when they could report on what was happening: it was clear that Ostrava will be each day at a quarter to ten, at a quarter to twelve and so on, and at this moment it was switched to them and they broadcasted their ten minutes. So it was really the only communicator. It was just like 1945, which I remember, as I was eight years old at the time - once again it was the radio who organized the fight against Germans. It was the easiest way to communicate. There was no other way."

In 1968 most of the Czech people were aware of this fact so they came to the radio to defend it. Karel Budil was among them.

The commemoration of the Soviet-led invasion in 1968 in front of the Czech Radio building, photo: CTK "I was in front of the National Museum when they shot up the façade. Afterwards a tank shot at me here, I mean just above my head. It's a vivid memory, I can still see that tank.... I was 23 then. This meant the end in my career. That was bad enough, but what was much worse were the demonstrations in 1969 when it was our own policemen, soldiers and militia that stood against us."

The demonstrations Karel Budil refers to, were the protests on the first anniversary of the invasion, exactly 35 years ago - when several demonstrators were killed. For many Czechs and Slovaks, this was the moment when they realized that hopes for the reforms to continue were dead.

For most of those who experienced the events of both 68 and 69, they represent painful memories. But they feel it important to remember them every year, as for the younger generation these events gradually become ancient history.