Archive: History | 1968 1968
Czech 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.
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Warsaw-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.
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Jiří 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.
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40th 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.
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Dora 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.
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Photographer of Soviet-led invasion remembers events 40 years on
It was 40 years ago this Thursday that Warsaw-Pact troops invaded the
former Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the hope and reform of the
so-called ‘Prague Spring’. All this week, Radio Prague will be
commemorating the invasion by broadcasting the testimonies of those who
were there. For today’s programme, Rosie Johnston spoke to Libor Hajský,
a junior photographer at the Czech Press Agency on August 21, 1968 – the
day that Soviet tanks rolled into Prague.
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An 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.
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Czechs and the Russian Bear
In early July, three days after the Czech Republic and the Bush
Administration signed a controversial agreement on a future anti-ballistic
missile radar base, Russia drastically reduced the supply of oil flowing
into the country. The move prompted fears that the Czech Republic had
become the latest post-communist country to face what some view as
extortion from its former big brother – one strongly opposed to the
placement of the US radar base on Czech soil. The crisis soon passed, with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordering a full restoration of
supplies. Yet the incident underscored tension both above and beneath the
surface between the Czech Republic and Russia – one which harks back to
a
painful 40 year experience as a Soviet satellite. Now, almost twenty years
on, have those relations begun to heal, or do Czechs still remain bitter
towards Russia? I hit the streets of Prague to gauge some opinions: More
The two-thousand words that started the Prague Spring
Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the “Two-Thousand Words”, a
declaration that was one of the first and most important steps of the
national revival referred to as the Prague Spring. The manifesto, which
appeared in several publications, posed important questions for the future
of democratic reforms in communist Czechoslovakia.
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Surviving images of Warsaw-pact invasion displayed at new exhibition
The climate in Prague in the spring of 1968 was one of liberalization and
reform. Laws were passed to abolish censorship and cultivate ‘democratic
socialism’. As communist Czechoslovakia opened itself up to the West, the
USSR looked on with increasing disapproval. On the night of August 20,
Soviet-led troops invaded Prague to bring an end to the reforms. Some of
the photos of the turmoil that ensued have just gone on display in Prague.
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