“Czechoslovakia 1968 -1969”, forty years after
Forty years after the Prague Spring, an exhibition sponsored by the Czech and Slovak Delegations to NATO looks back at recently declassified archive material to explore the historical and international contexts of the crisis.
The Czech Central Military Archives collaborated with the NATO archives to draw together official documents, newspaper clippings and images published during the crisis. This unique overview helps visitors to the exhibition understand how the situation evolved and was perceived by different countries.
“I was twenty at the time and I remember this as one of the marking events of the post second world war”, recalled NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer while attending the exhibition.
“It was in 1968 … that NATO began its significant transformation … into a modern international organization that fosters diplomacy, disarmament and detente ”, said Mr. Douglas Dempster, Assistant Secretary General for the Executive Management Division, who opened the display together with Ambassador Füle, Czech Permanent Representative to NATO, and Ambassador Kasicky, Slovak Permanent Representative to NATO.
The display will be hosted at NATO HQ in the press area until 30 September. Part of the exhibition can also be viewed on the NATO website.