Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: April 25, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Meetings in forests on the guarded Polish-Czechoslovak border. Shared interest in the fates of the political prisoners of both Communist states. The exchange of samizdat publications and information. The phenomenon of Polish-Czechoslovak solidarity brings together courage, friendship and sense of humour. The new Czech translation of the book Hranicím navzdory. Příběh Polsko-československé solidarity (Despite the Border: The Story of Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity) (ÚSTR, Prague 2018) will be launched by its authors, Łukasz Kamiński, a Polish historian and former director of Poland’s Institute of National Rembembrance, and Petr Blažek, a Czech historian based at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and many Poles and Czechs who remember those times.
The discussion will be chaired by Maciej Ruczaj, director of the Polish Institute in Prague.
A unique international opposition group emerged in 1981 when representatives of Poland’s Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) and Charter 77 signed a secret agreement on cooperation.
It is symbolic that Polish and Czech historians – Łukasz Kamiński, Petr Blažek and Grzegorz Majewski – were involved in a publication devoted to Polish-Czech Solidarity, an initiative based on mutual sympathy and bringing together figures whose outlooks were frequently at odds. The book opens up the broad question of the potential for cooperation and strength concealed in help and solidarity “despite the border”. The proof of its staying power is that Polish-Czechoslovak solidarity is still alive and active. Come with us on a “journey into Czech-Polish friendship.”
The evening will take place in Czech and Polish with simultaneous interpretation provided.