It’s a privilege to be living here during the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of Communism in this part of the world.
Of course the most well-known visual imagery of these events is the literal fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. JoEllen was visiting Munich friends the following summer during German Reunification Day. It felt and sounded as though all the church bells in all of Germany – both East and West – were ringing at the same time in celebration of the country’s reunion. Jo and her friends were picnicking on the grounds of the “Wiesen Kirk” (a famous Baroque ‘Church in the Meadow’) in Bavaria when all heaven let loose with the bells.
The post-war division of Europe was agreed by Truman, Churchill and Stalin – and the Baltics, Poland, the east of Germany and much more was sacrificed to what the Western leaders deemed political necessity.
Czechoslovakia was of course subjected to the same fate as East Germany, falling into the iron arms of Soviet Communism.
Forty years later, when the Soviet chokehold on Eastern Europe began to loosen because of a combination of pressure from the West and internal crumbling, tiny Estonia was one of the first to declare its independence from Soviet Russia.
Remarkably, the revolution in Estonia was brought about by song – at one point, a full 25% of the citizenry was attending vast festivals of patriotic, anti-Soviet music (hence, “The Singing Revolution”). To put down such a public outpouring would have been bloody in the extreme; Gorbachev didn’t have the will to carry out such a massacre.
Hungary’s border with Austria was “temporarily” opened for a picnic – hundreds poured through. And, of course, an East German official’s confused response to a particular question about the status of the East/West Berlin border brought about the euphoric scenes on the Wall.
Czechoslovakia was not far behind. In the (mostly) peaceful “Velvet Revolution”, the entire sitting government was forced to resign due to pressure from a motley collection of bearded students, musicians, artists and Frank Zappa fans, led by playwright Vaclav Havel. Alexander Dubček, a former premier purged from the Party for his attempts to loosen the Soviet stranglehold during the famous “Prague Spring” of 1968, gave the movement political credibility.
After 10 days of mass demonstrations in Prague and Bratislava – some including hundreds of thousands of participants - the position of the sitting Government was precarious indeed. And by the time the employees of the state broadcasting services and even the editorial staff of Pravda joined the dissidents, it was clear that it was untenable. The Central Committee resigned en masse, leaving the reins of power in Havel’s hands. Czechoslovakia was free.
Just over three years later, the amicable ”Velvet Divorce” occurred and Slovakia became an independent country for the first time ever, after a thousand years under Magyar domination and more than four decades under the Soviet yoke.
Today is of course a holiday in Slovakia. We watch wall-to-wall television archive coverage of the demonstrations, of Havel and Dubček, of the government resigning, of military generals; and of those who were there talking about what it was like. Scott understands just enough to translate bits and pieces for Jo, though understanding the language isn’t really necessary for most of the historical clips – the scenes are truly inspirational.
Watching the celebratory coverage of the events of November 1989 proves that the Slovaks most certainly don’t take their freedom for granted . We Westerners would do well to follow their example.
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