BRATISLAVA, August 22, (WEBNOVINY) — Commemorating the events of August 1968 is a challenge not to forget, while sensitively perceiving all displays of injustice, abuse of power and position, as well as every display of radicalism and intolerance. Prime Minister Iveta Radicova stated this in her statement marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion to the then Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968.
The prime minister reminded that already on the first day, the invasion claimed lives, while several people were seriously injured. Political cleansing and persecution of those who did not hide their disapproval followed. “The regime operated on a corrupt system: in exchange for accepting the occupation and for passive acceptance of the so-called normalization, there were social and livelihood securities. Normalization confirmed the criminal nature of the communist regime, which was established mostly through political processes in the nineteen fifties”, Radicova stated. Cynicism and inhumanity of the communist regime and the government of the Communist Party resulted in a number of innocent victims, devastation of spirit, violation of values of the European civilization, destruction of the economy, deletion of historic memory and double morals.
“Also due to these consequences, the journey towards freedom and democracy after November 1989 was not obvious and simple. Two decades of freedom have shown its fragility and vulnerability. The third decade of our democracy should thus be a period of strengthening the functioning of a country with a rule of law, democracy and its institutions, as well as development of a civil society,” she added. Radicova points out that without a living historical memory, we will repeat old mistakes and errors in new conditions and context. She pointed out that achievements of freedom should not cover up the story of oppression.
In the night from August 20 to August 21, troops of five Warsaw Pact countries, Bulgaria, Hungary, German Democratic Republic, Poland, and the Soviet Union, stormed into Czechoslovakia. Only Romania refused to take part in this „act of international solidarity“. The operation was designed to halt the political reform movement in Czechoslovakia referred to as the Prague Spring. The invasion was followed by a policy of „normalization“. The totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia collapsed after events from November 17, 1989.
SITA