Faces of Normalisation
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: February 25, 2020, 19:00 – 21:00
Normalization has earned a reputation in society of being a bearable, “goulash” communism, during which people escaped to their cottage or the records of Karel Gott. In reality, it spelled years of devastation. Societal apathy, lethargy and unwillingness to accept liberty or responsibility were all rooted not in the gallows of the 1950s or Jáchymov’s Tower of Death, but in the regime brought in by Soviet tanks in August 1968. Precisely because of a creeping degradation of the spirit and will of the majority, it is worth remembering how tremendously evil and distorted the period was.
The book Tváře normalizace (Faces of Normalisation) has been brought out by Deník N as a contribution to the mosaic of understanding of the country’s past. The authors opted to tell specific human stories that, despite their specificity, deliver a stronger sense of the mechanisms and atmosphere of the time than academic studies. Together, the stories of the regime’s well-known and rank and file protagonists form a convincing portrait of that time.
The publication will be discussed by historian Libor Svoboda, writer Jiří Padevět and its editors Eliška Černá and Jan Wirnitzer.
Introduced by Ján Simkanič, director of publishers N Media.
Deník N journalist Jana Ustohalová will moderate.