Marking a day that will live in infamy

An Aug. 21 ceremony on Wenceslas Square drew Daniel Herman, the newly named head of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR), as another gathering drew other dignitaries paying tribute to the 42nd anniversary of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Senate Chairman Přemysl Sobotka (ODS) condemned the August 1968 Soviet-led invasion as shameful, while praising the role of radio reporters in informing the public, speaking outside the Czech Radio Building on Vinohradská street. 

Culture Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09) and Czech Radio Acting Director Petr Duhan were also among dozens of politicians, radio employees and eyewitnesses who attended the event.

Describing communism as "perverse," Sobotka said "the information people learnt from radio at the time...was the last truth they were allowed to officially hear for the following 21 years."

Troops from the five Warsaw Pact countries - the Soviet Union, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and East Germany - entered Czechoslovakia during the night of Aug. 20-21. By the end of the year, the invasion had claimed the lives of 108 Czechoslovaks and injured hundreds more.

Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com