A farewell to arms

June 30 will mark 20 years since the Soviet withdrawal from Czechoslovakia, and July 1 will mark two decades since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact military alliance.

The NGO Opona is commemorating the dates with its "Week of Freedom," a series of concerts and public events.

Michael Kocáb helped negotiate the 1991 withdrawal, and he recalls the original celebrations with irony.

"The celebrations took place at the Výstaviště ice-hockey arena with a concert by Frank Zappa, and President Václav Havel and many others attended," he said. "I expected fireworks all over the country, but they only took place in Prague."

WEEK OF FREEDOM

June 23-25 The United Islands Festival will include bands from countries with restricted freedom like Afghanistan or Cuba
June 27-28 The Foreign Affairs Ministry and Defense Ministry each host panel discussions on the Soviet withdrawal
June 28-Aug. 31 An exhibition called "A Brotherly Embrace" about the Warsaw Pact is on display at the Wallenstein Gardens
June 29 A freedom concert and street party on Wenceslas Square

Kocáb

"I laugh, when looking back, because it says something about this nation. Every nation has the government it deserves."

To kick off Week of Freedom, the artist David Černý's famed "pink tank" arrived aboard a pontoon on the Vltava River June 20.

For much of the 20th century, tank No. 23 (not yet pink) stood in public as a symbol of the Soviet-led liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation. By 1968, when the Warsaw Pact invaded to quash the so-called Prague Spring, it had become a widely despised instrument of propaganda in the public mind. In 1991, Černý and his friends painted the tank pink in protest of the occupation.

"Thank God there is somebody in this country who found this memorable date worth celebrating," said Kocáb. "The whole world celebrated the end of World War II, the end of Nazi occupation, but this second Soviet occupation is comparable in a way, and there is a terrible lack of recognition."

Within days of the Nov. 17, 1989, collapse of the communist regime, Kocáb visited the Soviet Embassy, with the backing of the Civic Forum, seeking prompt assurance that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was willing to negotiate.

When asked if there was a moment he worried the negotiations might not succeed, Kocáb recalled a visit to Moscow with Alexander Dubček, then head of the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia, the first post-communist Parliament.

"It happened during a busy day at the Kremlin. At one point, I faced about 30 Kremlin hawks with six people on our side in tough negotiations," he said. "Right in front of them, I made one ineffaceable and inexcusable mistake when I compared their occupation to that of Hitler. It sparked a reaction similar to when you throw a bomb."

While that meeting ended rather suddenly, Gorbachev supported a negotiated solution to the problem, and talks continued. With the agreement eventually in place, however, the troubles were only beginning.

The pullout of 115,000 Soviet troops and their families took some 18 months following a treaty signed by Czechoslovak Foreign Affairs Ministers Jiří Dienstbier Sr. and his Soviet counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, in February 1990. A few starts and stops followed, with Soviets at one point arguing they needed five years to complete the withdrawal.

"Accommodating 1.5 million troops from the whole Eastern bloc was no piece of cake," Kocáb said.

"They were constantly pushing us to provide prefab houses without mentioning who will provide the financial resources in a 'we'll settle it later' kind of way."

By the end of June 1991, it was over, making Czechoslovakia the first ni the former Eastern bloc to be free of Soviet troops.   

"People who have never experienced what it's like to live under a totalitarian regime might take freedom for granted," said David Gaydečka, who helped organize the Week of Freedom for Opona. "But after experiencing the Week of Freedom's program and facing the stark contrast with the past, they might realize a lot of things and will hopefully become active citizens."

Klára Jiřičná can be reached at
kjiricna@praguepost.com