The Split of Czechoslovakia: What Did We Gain and What Did We Lose?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: November 23, 2022, 19:00 – 21:00
Thirty years later the time is slowly approaching when we will soberly reflect on the moment when, after over 70 years of coexistence, the paths of the Czech and Slovak nations diverged, only for them to come together again within the European Union. We often celebrate the fact that we are still so close despite the split back then. But if we are so close, did we really need to break up? Was the division the inevitable outcome of abstract historical forces, as some believe, or the result of the actions of specific individuals and motives? What does the split mean for our understanding of historical events, and what does it say about us?
Events on the eve of the approval of the constitutional law on the dissolution of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 30 years ago will be discussed by Michael Žantovský and others who remember it or were directly involved, including Soňa Szomolányi, professor at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava, lawyer and Czech Constitutional Court chairman Pavel Rychetský, sociologist and diplomat Martin Bútora and lawyer Jan Kalvoda, a former Czech minister of justice.