Related articles

Gary Keith Griffin is currently in Prague presenting his new Czech-language movie Listopad (November), which explores the Velvet Revolution from the perspective of young participants in the street demonstrations of that time. Griffin also had personal experience to draw on, having himself been in the city as those historic events were unfolding at the end of 1989. When we met on Národní St., where the revolution began on November 17 that year, I asked the Oscar-winning cameraman what he had found when he arrived in Prague on an NBC news

The Communist Party says that the Velvet Revolution was a “wasted opportunity”. In a statement released on Friday the Communists said it was not possible to regard the changes after 1989 as a success, adding that today the Czech Republic is run by a propertied oligarchy that pays no heed to the interests of citizens. The party said Czechs had greater social certainty under the previous system. It criticized the division of Czechoslovakia without a referendum and the fact the Czech Republic had joined NATO, which it described as aggressive. The Communist Party of Bohemian and Moravia is one of the few parliamentary parties in the region to retain the word communist in its title.

Countless events across the Czech Republic – and indeed across the globe – are taking place over the next four days to mark the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. These are scheduled in key places associated with the Revolution, such as Wenceslas Square or Národní třída in Prague, as well as in locations such as Washington D.C. and London.

A new public perceptions survey by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM), conducted on the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, has revealed that around a sixth of Czechs still long for a return to communism, while they are equally split on whether their country’s current politics is moving the country forward.

The Velvet Revolution which toppled the communist regime in then Czechoslovakia began on November 17, 1989 with a student protest at Prague’s Národní třída. But a full week earlier, unrest was brewing in the northern Czech city of Teplice over poor air quality. Finally, one young student decided enough was enough.

In this week's Panorama, I am joined by Vilém Prečan, the chairman and founder of the Czechoslovak Documentation Centre. Along with photographer Karel Cudlín, he is the co-author of a new Czech-German book called Německý podzim v Praze 1989, or The German Autumn in Prague, 1989. This book chronicles a very particular set of events, namely the 1989 exodus of East Germans via the West German embassy in Prague, which ultimately led to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

As the 25th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution approaches, the Czech foreign ministry is putting its full weight behind a series of events taking place across the world to celebrate the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

The Czech Philharmonic, under the direction of renowned conductor Jiří Bělohlávek, will perform Antonín Dvořák’s “From the New World Symphony” at Carnegie Hall in New York on November 16th – the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Czech cultural representatives, part of a delegation led by the head of the Chamber of Deputies Jan Hamáček, are bringing to the US the original handwritten score which Dvořák wrote during his time in the United States. The score has not left the country in more than 100 years. The composer’s grandson will also be travelling to the US for the occasion.

Two communist-era secret police officers, Petr Beran and Kamil Líbal, have received suspended sentences for beating up a youth of 17 during an interrogation in January 1989. The incident occurred in connection with demonstrations in Prague marking the anniversary of the death of Jan Palach. The two StB men allegedly aimed to force a confession out of David Kabzan that would be used in a case against Václav Havel, at that time a leading dissident. One of the two has appealed the verdict. Mr. Beran told the court that he had merely being fulfilling the orders of politicians, adding that he regarded his prosecution as political persecution.

A cultural space named the Velvet Centre is set to open in Prague’s Malá Strana district on Wednesday ahead of 25th anniversary celebrations of the Velvet Revolution, which brought communism to an end in Czechoslovakia. The centre on Cíhelná St., a short distance from Charles Bridge, will host workshops, lectures and debates centred on the revolution, which began on November 17 1989.