Czech history highlights

'Prague Spring' 1968

In 1948 the communists took control of the government and Czechoslovakia became a socialist Republic aligned with the Soviet Union. After some 20 years, the leader of the communist party, Alexandr Dubček, introduced reforms ('Prague Spring') nurturing hopes for free and independent development in the country. On August 21, 1968 armed forces of the Warsaw Pact marched into Czechoslovakia and ended the reform era by force. In the following years of 'Normalization', Czechoslovakia was dominated by the Soviets, the reforms were cancelled, and the political leadership of the so called Prague Spring deprived of power. As a result, a large number of intellectuals, writers and artists left the country.

The 'Velvet Revolution' 1989

On the 9th of November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; on the 17th of November in Prague there was the 'Velvet Revolution'. Demonstrating students were followed in later days by actors and artists, academics and workers. The streets filled up, hundreds of thousands of Prague residents gathered at Wenceslas Square. Jingling hands full of keys, the crowd demanded that the government (open the doors) and turn over power.

Over a 7 day period, protests, strikes and internal strife within the Communist Party spelled the end of the regime. A citizens' forum was established as a basis of oppositional power and the communist government resigned on the 24th of November. The next day 750,000 Czechs gathered at Letná Park to stress their demands for political reforms. The men of this hour were Alexandr Dubček, the Prague Spring hero in 1968, and Václav Havel, the renowned dramatist who had been released from the state prison just a few months earlier. It didn´t take long before the walls read: Havel na Hrad - Havel to the Castle!

On 17 November 2009 (the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution) a commemorative 2 Euro coin was issued by Slovakia. The coin depicts a bell with a key adjoining the clapper, reflecting the symbolic role of keys in the revolution.