Interviewees remember the Velvet Revolution

Jan Hus Statue, Prague's Old Town Square, November, 1989

Since the NCSML began recording the stories of newer Czech and Slovak immigrants to the United States in the autumn of 2011, it has gathered numerous accounts from eyewitnesses to the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Here are a few of the memories that interviewees have shared from that time:

Poster calling for dismissal of politicians Štěpán, Jakeš & Obzina

Irena Kovarova remembers the build up to the Velvet Revolution in Prague in 1989:

“What I really started feeling more and more, I felt embarrassed that I’m allowing these people to rule my life. I felt embarrassed for myself. And so that was brewing, and when this November demonstration of students was going to take part, it was absolutely clear - we had to be there.”

At the time of the Revolution, Jana Frankova was working in Prague as a translator for a seminar of young journalists:

Rasto Gallo was a student in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia:

Vlado Šolc was a couple of years younger. He was attending military school in Prešov in November 1989:

Veronika Heblikova-Balingit, Prague, 1989

Veronika Heblikova-Balingit took many photos of Prague at the time of the Revolution (all of the photos in this blog post are courtesy of her own personal archive). She remembers being in the capital when the Velvet Revolution gained traction:

For more eyewitness accounts of the Velvet Revolution on the NCSML’s webpages, have a look at Pavol Dzacko, Irena Cajkova and Katya Heller’s profiles.