CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs remember the Velvet Revolution of 1989 with an exhibition in the streets of Prague
Record ID:
739396
CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs remember the Velvet Revolution of 1989 with an exhibition in the streets of Prague
- Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs remember the Velvet Revolution of 1989 with an exhibition in the streets of Prague
- Date: 17th November 2009
- Summary: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (RECENT) (REUTERS) PRAGUE CASTLE WITH BRIDGE CROSSING VLTAVA RIVER START OF 'WE DIDN'T GIVE IT UP' EXHIBITION ROUTE AT PRAGUE CASTLE PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITION PANELS PHOTOGRAPH OF OPPOSITION DEMO IN 1989, ON EXHIBITION PANEL VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITION PANELS (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) POST BELLUM INSTITUTE DIRECTOR, MIKULAS KROUPA, SAYING: ''Ten years ago we started to record the memories of war veterans and now we are also recording memories from the fifties and from the 'normalisation' period; the stories of dissidents and students from November 1989.'' VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION IN KLAROV SQUARE PRESERVED COMMUNIST WATCH TOWER IN THE SQUARE EXHIBITION IN VENCESLAS SQUARE PHOTOGRAPH OF POLICE AT A DEMONSTRATION IN 1989, ON EXHIBITION PANEL PEOPLE LOOKING AT PICTURES PHOTOGRAPH OF RIOT POLICE, ON EXHIBITION PANEL VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT THE EXHIBITION (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) RESIDENT OF KOLIN TOWN, JIRI, SAYING: ''Yes, everything is fine now. Only people should not steal so much. Everything else is fine.'' PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITION PANELS (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) RESIDENT OF PRAGUE, ALZBETA KUNCOVA, SAYING: ''I think that many things haven't changed. Especially for us, the common people.'' VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION IN PALACH SQUARE
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Czech Republic
- Country: Czech Republic
- Topics: History,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC2ZRNWB38DLB3F1J12XDHVOGU
- Story Text: A huge outdoor exhibition In Prague is recalling the rise and fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, and celebrating the 20th anniversary of so called 'Velvet Revolution.' The show, entitled 'We did not give it up,' starts at Prague Castle and has a total of 145 panels running through the main streets and squares of the city centre.
Organised by the 'Post Bellum' group, it is a record of Czechoslovak history which aims to explain what led to communist rule in the eastern european country, and its eventual overthrow at the end of the 1980s.
''Ten years ago we started to record the memories of war veterans and now we are also recording memories from the fifties and from the 'normalisation' period; the stories of dissidents and students from November 1989,'' said exhibition organiser Mikulas Kroupa.
The exhibition tells the stories of those who experienced the Second World War and the rise of socialism and those who lived to see the fall of the Iron Curtain.
There are tales of war veterans, Nazi concentration camp survivors and resistance fighters who fought against the pressures of the secret police. Regime opponents in the 1950s and dissidents of the 'normalisation' era are recorded, as are the students who took to the streets in 1989. All are united by their need to do something to change society and not just remain as passive onlookers.
The exhibition routesymbolically at the site of the main 1989 demonstrations in Venceslas square, with photographs and anecdotes from the time of the 'Velvet Revolution.' But Czechs are divided as to whether life has improved since 1989.
''Yes, everything is fine now. Only people should not steal so much. Everything else is fine,'' said Jiri, referring to recent financial and corruption scandals.
''I think that many things haven't changed. Especially for us, the common people,'' said retiree Alzbeta Kuncova.
Vaclav Havel was at the forefront of the 1989 protests. As a dissident leader he spoke of freedom to the massed crowds in the run-up to the fall of the communist regime at the end of November that year.
Havel went on to become president of Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic. Speaking at a news conference in October he said he understood peoples' concerns about the path taken after communism.
''Of course we made a lot of mistakes. But at the same time we avoided many other mistakes. The basic direction we wanted our society to go in - towards a democratic and legal state, freedom of the people, respect for human rights, a market economy - all this is happening and being fulfilled, even if it has been much more complicated and slower than we imagined,'' Havel told journalists.
''We can be upset about our present situation, but we cannot say that we lost our direction,'' he added.
The Post Bellum exhibition 'We did not give it up' runs in Prague until November 23. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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