Events

18. 2. 200812:41

Exhibition 5. 2. - 22. 4. 2008: They are one of us ...

A few of the many who should be remembered on the anniversary of the 1948 communist coup

Organizer:
Office of the Czech Government

In collaboration with:
Post Bellum Civic Association

The four decades of terror unleashed by the communist regime which seized power in Czechoslovakia sixty years ago took an immense toll. During the first fifteen years alone, 242 people were executed for political „crimes,“ 174 were shot dead and 88 killed by electricity from the wire fences when attempting to cross the western border, a still undetermined number were tortured to death or murdered, hundreds of thousands were imprisoned and millions robbed of their property.

What happened in February 1948 is common knowledge. But do we see actual human destinies behind the statistics? When commemorating this anniversary, we must not fail to remember the victims of communism, the heroes who stood in the way of the totalitarian rule, of whom many still live among us.

Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, asked several journalists, members of the Post Bellum civic association, to select memories of political prisoners of the 1950’s from a unique collection of survivors’ stories, gathered as part of the radio project “Stories of the 20th century,”.

Their reminiscences, along with photographs, make up the exhibition which was officially opened on Tuesday, February 5th at 10 a.m.

The opening of the exhibition was covered by Czech Television.