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Prague remembers Aug. 21, 1968

Ceremonies, exhibits mark anniversary of Soviet-led invasion

By Kimberly Hiss
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 27th, 2008 issue

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
From the exhibition "And the Tanks Arrived," part of the Warsaw Pact invasion re-enactment in front of the National Museum on Wenceslas Square. On Aug. 25, 1968, Soviet troops opened fire on the museum.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
From the exhibition "And the Tanks Arrived," part of the Warsaw Pact invasion re-enactment in front of the National Museum on Wenceslas Square. On Aug. 25, 1968, Soviet troops opened fire on the museum.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Viktor Fainberg, a former dissident, talks with German Ambassador to the Czech Republic Helmut Elfenkämper shortly after receiving the K. Kramář medal from Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek Aug. 21.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Topolánek opens the exhibition "For Your Freedom and Ours" in the garden of the Strakova Academy in Malá Strana.
Prague resident Milan Jankovský was 12 years old when Soviet tanks reached the Czech capital Aug. 21, 1968. “The noise the troops made woke me up,” he said. “My parents told me there was probably a war starting and we should buy a lot of food.”
Věra Rousínová heard news of the occupation on the radio. “My first thought was, ‘Oh God, the Germans are here.’ That’s what we were taught in the 1950s: Germans, not Russians, are occupiers.”
Such visitors to the National Museum — an iconic target of the Soviet-led invasion — were among the many Czechs and foreigners who participated in events to observe the 40th anniversary of the arrival of Warsaw Pact troops.
The 1968 invasion, which ended seven months of progressive social reforms known as Prague Spring, has received increased attention this year due to its parallel with the current Russia-Georgia conflict. The anniversary was marked internationally by figures ranging from Hungarian Culture Minister István Hiller (who apologized for his country’s participation in the invasion) to U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (who noted that his country “did not do much” to help Czechoslovakia at the time).  
In Prague, the anniversary was a day of speeches, exhibit openings and commemorations officiated by government heads including President Václav Klaus, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, and Prague Mayor Pavel Bém. Various civic groups also staged events promoting their respective causes within the context of the anniversary.
The parallel between the 1968 invasion and the current conflict in the Caucasus was referenced repeatedly throughout the day.
“It is important that we are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Russian invasion right now, because what’s happening in Georgia is kind of a turning point,” European Affairs Minister Alexandr Vondra commented after an event at the Strakova Academy in Malá Strana.
But officials were careful to distinguish between the sentiments of the then-Soviet government and the Russian public — a point made by Topolánek’s honoring of 10 nationals from Russia, Germany, Hungary and Poland who protested their countries’ participation in the 1968 invasion.
Russian honoree Viktor Fainberg, however, was quick to deflect the spotlight. “It was not heroism,” he said of his protest on Moscow’s Red Square 40 years earlier. “It was just normal human behavior when you stick to your nature against being enslaved.” He too tied the Soviet invasion to events in Georgia. “Now, 40 years later, history repeats itself. We have the same enemy as before.”
On Wenceslas Square, another parallel was being drawn with the 1968 invasion, as activists compared the Soviet occupation with what they consider the U.S. occupation that will begin when American forces are stationed on Czech territory in connection with the planned radar base.
“In 1968, Russian troops came despite public opposition,” said Jan Tamáš of the No Bases Initiative. “Now, again, we have a situation where most Czechs don’t want troops stationed on our territory, but the government is inviting them anyway.”
The No Bases Initiative marked the 1968 anniversary by placing a large map of Czechoslovakia on the ground and having three pairs of “soldiers” walk across it — first Germans in reference to the 1938 Munich Agreement, next Soviets representing the 1968 invasion, and third Americans, who circled the map, noting the 2008 radar treaty.
Perhaps the most prevalent sentiment of the day was a belief in the importance of remembering the events of 1968 as a pivotal episode in Czech history, and what’s at stake if the country’s past is forgotten.
“The young generation doesn’t know much about Czech and Czechoslovak history,” said Bém at the National Museum’s exhibit. He was 5 at the time of the invasion. Bém added that he’d spoken with his own teenage children that morning, encouraging them to attend the day’s events. “The important aspects of our national history are disappearing. Once we lose this history from memory, we lose our nation and, in effect, ourselves.”
Pavel Žáček, director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, agreed.
“It is a problem for our schools and for discussion in our families,” he said. “This particular anniversary is the best possible opportunity to open minds and find a way to explain the whole situation.”
While many Czech youths are indeed out of touch with the past (when asked about his country’s history, one Prague teenager declined to say anything for fear of embarrassing himself), the number of families wandering the open-air anniversary exhibit in front of the museum helped to counter such concerns.
“We’re trying to put their grandfather’s life in perspective,” said Prague parents Eleanor and David, who showed their three children photos of protesters, pointing out men who were their grandfather’s age at the time. “We live in freedom, but we want to impress upon them where that freedom came from.” Five-year-old Monika pointed to various pictures, asking her mother questions such as, “What language were they speaking?” and “What were those soldiers thinking?”
— Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Kimberly Hiss can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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