Photo: Youtube / Czech Radio Plus
Timothy Garton Ash was in Prague last week, presenting the Czech version of his latest book Homelands: A Personal History of Europe. While he was here, the UK historian, who spent time in this region when communism was collapsing, took part in events marking the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution. And Mr. Garton Ash also spoke to Jan Bumba of Czech Radio, about those dramatic times – and where Europe is headed today.
We are meeting in Prague in mid-November. At this time 34 years ago, Czechoslovakia was going through historic changes. The vast majority of people were happy to get rid of the Communist regime. Nevertheless, today there are many who tend to remember the ‘70s and the ‘80s as the “good old times”. Why do you think this is happening?
“The Velvet Revolution, which I witnessed at first hand, thanks to Václav Havel in Laterna magika, was such an extraordinary, magical moment, and the beginning of what I call the ‘post-wall’ period, the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And it was a very, very good period in European history.
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Authors: Jan Bumba, Ian Willoughby