The Solitude of Revolution

The Solitude of Revolution. Invasion as Trauma and Solidarity in the 1968 Dissident Culture in Eastern Europe and Beyond

Presentation by Emese Kürti, art historian and researcher

Taking into consideration the current Soviet invasion in Ukraine, this presentation focuses on the less frequently discussed aspect of the Czechoslovak invasion by the Warsaw Pact armies in 1968, the issue of resistance and solidarity. In the first days of the occupation, the people of Czechoslovakia were shocked in remembrance of the brutality of the 1956 intervention in Hungary. They experimented with different methodologies of mainly passive resistance, while sympathizers of the New Left, including intellectuals from the occupying countries, expressed their solidarity with the communist democracy of Czechoslovakia. Analyzing primary sources and visual materials from the archive of Radio Free Europe in the Blinken OSA Archivum, this lecture makes an attempt to propose a typology for resistance and some conclusions that might be relevant beyond the historical locality of the event.

This Visegrad Scholarship at OSA presentation can be followed in the Archivum, or online on: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/96742078710?pwd=UVZDSmdLZGZZWUNoSmcvdVMzN1lMQT09