Photo: archive of Czech Radio
This is the second of two special programmes in our series In Their Own Words, bringing the dramatic events of 1968 and 1969 in Czechoslovakia to life through the radio archives. Last week we ended a few days just after the Soviet-led invasion on 21 August 1968 that brought the reforms of the Prague Spring to a violent end. This week we pick up the story, as the process that came to be known as “normalization” began, and we tell the moving story of Jan Palach, who gave his life in the hope of persuading people not to come to terms with the gradual drift back to hardline rule.
On the airwaves, 1968 ended very much as it had begun. For New Year’s Eve, Czechoslovak Radio chose the same format as the year before, with the light-hearted musical cabaret of the Semafor Theatre.
But behind the scenes, the Soviet-led occupation in August had changed everything. The Soviets were only too pleased for the radio to give the impression of normality, hiding what was really happening. A gradual, almost imperceptible drift back to hardline communist rule had begun. The process came to be known euphemistically as “normalization”.
See the rest here.