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The National Museum on Prague’s Wenceslas Square has for years been a symbol of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia, with its façade riddled with bullet holes from invading soldiers attacking the building. But there have been suggestions a recent renovation of the façade, set to be unveiled next week, has made the marks barely visible.

Soviet-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 in response to the Prague Spring, a reform movement launched earlier that year by then freshly installed Communist Party chief Alexander Dubček. But how soon into Dubček’s rule did Moscow become concerned about developments in Prague? And what, if any, steps did the Slovak-born leader take to appease the Russians? Those are just a couple of the questions I discussed with Kieran Williams, who is the author of The Prague Spring and its Aftermath and teaches at Drake University in Des Moines,

The upcoming 50th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia has sparked controversy on the Czech political scene. Right-wing parties see the anniversary as an opportunity to protest against what they see as President Zeman’s pro-Russian orientation and the fact that the Communist Party is regaining an influence on national politics, while the Communist Party, which faces renewed hostility on the anniversary, is trying to play down Russia’s responsibility for the invasion.

The number of Russians residing and working in the Czech Republic has been steadily growing in recent years. Many come here in search of a better life, to escape the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin or homophobia in their homeland. And many find that the Russian led-invasion of Czechoslovakia casts a long shadow.

With the 50th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia fast approaching, an exhibition just launched at Prague’s Old Town Hall brings together almost 200 photographs documenting that time. Most belong in private archives and a number are being shown in public for the first time ever.

The Czech Foreign Ministry is marking the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia with exhibitions and special events at Czech embassies around the world.

The Foreign Ministry has also organized several international conferences on the subject.

Czech cultural centres abroad are showing an exhibition titled Prague Spring 1968.

People in the Czech Republic will be able to view the exhibition at the Czech Centre in Prague’s Rytířská street in October.

Czech Radio will be at the center of a series of commemorative events marking 50 years since the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Czech Radio is cooperating closely with the National Museum, the National Film Archive and the Institute for Study of Totalitarian Regimes to produce a video-mapping of the August events, including a 13-hour special starting late on August 20th which will follow the events of that night and the early hours of August 21st when Russian tanks rolled into the country to crush the democratic reforms of the Prague Spring movement.

Thirty Czech Radio reporters will be stationed at crucial sites around the country to recall the events of that dark chapter in the country’s history.

One hundred years ago this October, just before the end of World War I, Czechoslovakia declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While these are basic historical facts you might expect every schoolchild to know, a newly released poll shows that almost 1 in 5 adults cannot name an event from 1918 – and even fewer knew the basic history of more recent decades.

In the early years of Radio Free Europe, the U.S. station – although initially founded and largely secretly funded by the CIA – played a critical role in providing balanced, objective news to listeners in the Eastern Bloc, especially during turbulent periods of history. Having failed to live up its own standards when covering the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, RFE took a radically different approach to its coverage of the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, says former RFE director A. Ross Johnson.

The Russian embassy in Prague has denied that former WWII Red Army marshal Ivan Konev took part in the planning of the 1968 Soviet Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to suppress the reformist communist movement in the country.

The embassy pointed out that Konev had already retired from an active role in the army in April 1963 and had been transferred to the army general inspectorate. It added that there was no archive proof of his participation in the 1968 preparations.

The denial comes as the Prague 6 district is reported to be preparing to put a plaque on a monumental statue of Marshal Konev describing his preparations in the 1968 invasion. The statue is a frequent target for attacks. Konev led the Red Army forces that entered Prague at the end of the Second World War.