Stories from history, Czechia

The following chapters will show you two important events of former Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring 1968 and Velvet Revolution 1989), introduce you our school back in the 20th century and will also tell you about traveling and sports in the second half of the 20th century.

In 1948, the Communist Party began to rule in Czechoslovakia. There was no freedom, people were punished and life was hard with lack of goods. Gradually, people wanted reforms to make life easier. They started in the spring of 1968, with their leader Alexander Dubček, who was offering "socialism with a human face" with freedomof speech and press. The Soviet Union didn't like the changes. So, with the Warsaw Pact troops on August 21 began occupation of Czechoslovakia. People died and were persecuted in the later years. The Soviet army remained in Czechoslovakia for 23 years until 1991, they left thanks to the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The revolution is called velvet for its nonviolent character. There just wasn't any need to use weapons. It is a period of revolutionary changes in the country between 17 November and 29 December 1989, which led to fall of the communist regime. On 17 November 1989 took place a permitted march of students of Prague universities to honlur the memory of Jan Opletal (a medical student killed by the Nazis in 1939). They were supposed to end up in Vyšehrad, but they decided to move to the centre of Prague. The Police tried to beat the demonstrators hoping to stop calls for freedom, but it only strengthened the resistance. Two days later there were held mass demonstrations in Prague. 200,000 gathered on Václavské square where Václav Havel spoke from the balcony. He was a designer of the revolution and became president in December 1989. the main symbols of the Velvet Revolution were jingling keys, flowers, bare hands and candles. In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.

Videos showing Occupation in 1968 and Velvet Revolution in 1989:

https://youtu.be/_FfR64aJ7fI                          https://youtu.be/Y9DeaUMFGro

Our school opened its door for the first time on October 1, 1919 and had only 2 classes. Now we have 12 classes. Previously, it only served for training of merchant youths, later it focused on business administration. The main field of study was founded in 1937 and was called business academy. Bad times came with the Nazi occupation (1939-45). Several of our teachers, includint the principal, were killed during World War II. Classes were suspended, then the building was used as a lazaret and temporary placement of German soldiers. After the was it served to the Red Army as well. Later, in 1954 there were 23 fields of study at the four-year school of economics. The latest branch of study, economical lycée, was opened in 2007 and offers more general education. The aim of the school was and is to educate theoretically well-prepared administration staff for practice.

In the second half of 20th century until 1989 Czech people usually traveled by car or bus for the purpose of recovery or for a holiday. They often traveled to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia or Hungary where is the biggest lake in central Europe, Balaton. A large amount of people just went around Czechoslovakia. To Pravcice Gate or Lipno Lake wich is called "sweet sea" because tourists went there for sunbathing or swimming like they would go for a holiday in Italy. But it wasn't easy to travel abroad. In February 1948 it was prohibited to travel beyond the borders west of Czechoslovakia. The Iron Curtain was create so if you wanted to travel further than the borders you couldn't leave with just a passport, yo needed a special exit permission and not everyone could get it. Everywhere were border controls, military guards were checking if you had the traveling permission. At some places were even mine fields and electric wire. If you compare traveling in the 20th century and now, it's very different. Now all you need is a passport (and now vaccination confirmation because of covid). And if you have those, you can go anywhere you want to. Back then it was much more difficult. A typical sports event for Czechoslovakia before 1989 were Spartakiads. They were synchronized exercises and are considered as a tradition of the Sokol (Falcon) sports events. In totalitarian Czechoslovakia Spartakiads were held from 1955 - 1985. On an area of 63,000 square metres (about 9 football fields), thousands of the same dressed exercisers performed in individual compositions. The Spartakiad formation consisted of square units, with 36 exercisers. The movement of individuals of groups created interesting patterns for the watchers. This was visually impressive. Spartakiad compositions were practised to the rhytm of music. everything was to be dome under the motto: In a healthy body, a healthy spirit!

https://youtu.be/YnbvPydRV4s

Photo credentials: own photos (school), public domain photos (Prague Spring,Velvet Revolution,Travelling,Spartakiad)

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