Celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Irons Curtain’s fall in the Czech Republic were often accompanied by the question whether there actually was anything to celebrate. It seemed that preparations of the Velvet Revolution’s jubilee would be tinged with scepticism and frustration about current political developments, a mix-up which seems typical for Czechs. Even though over the course of the year 2009 it seemed that nothing was being prepared for the autumn jubilee, the number of events finally turned out quite high. After all, Czechs rarely miss an opportunity to celebrate. The aforementioned question could be answered with a resounding ‘Yes, there is something to celebrate!’ – a view which became the motto of the main event in Prague.

The non-governmental, non-profit organization Opona (The Curtain) was founded as early as in 2007, two years before the anniversary, and became the main organizer of most projects commemorating and celebrating twenty years after the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia. It was symptomatic that the Opona organization was founded by young people who had still been at secondary school in 1989 and that Opona is a non-governmental organization: the initiators of celebrations were mainly young people and non-governmental organizations. In this respect the project ‘Himmelweit gleich – Vastly equal? Europe’s 1989’ was no exception to the rule.

The Opona association had already organized several important events in the course of 2009. The most visible of them probably was the exhibition ‘Calendar of totalitarianism’. In spring a stylized bus-stop was erected in the centre of Prague at the Republiky square so that passers-by could learn through photographs and texts about the main historic turning points and also about everyday life in socialistic Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and the GDR. Also thanks to its advantageous location the ‘bus-stop’ attracted great and deserved interest, but despite this fact it was removed after five weeks. As a travelling exhibition it appeared shortly in several Czech towns and again, though only for a few days, in November in Prague. This raises the question why the exhibition had to be so short-lived and why it could not remain installed a bit longer, just like a similar, if more locally focussed exhibition on the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany at the Alexanderplatz in Berlin which was even prolonged until autumn 2010.

Unfortunately the ‘Simulator of totalitarianism’, yet another event planned for the celebrations, did not take off the ground because of financial reasons. This should have been a large interactive exposition educating through first-hand experience, allowing the visitors to personally experience the specifics of life in communist Czechoslovakia between 1944 and 1990. Visitors in this exposition would have been asked to choose their virtual avatar for which they would make important career decisions. This ambitious project, the work of many artists, teachers and historians, was restrained to a model phase. Its implementation and final location is still being negotiated in 2010. One of the locations in question is a former Secret Security prison at Uherské Hradiště.

The play ‘Personal history’ is yet another project of the Opona organization, prepared by young theatre actors and students from drama schools who were attending kindergarten at the time of the fall of the Iron Curtain. Witness to the fact is the subtitle of the performance: ‘In 1989 I was five years old… it’s just skin deep for me’. In the play the characters expand on their earliest memories, distorted by their childhood point of view, but they also use oral history methods and involve stories of their parents and grandparents. The performance does not only turn to the past, but in an interesting way it also reflects on the media circus connected with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. By its international dimension and age of actors (apart from Czech performers there are also actors from Poland and Slovakia) this theatre project closely resembles the project ‘Himmelweit gleich – Vastly equal? Europe’s 1989’ and has made a similar impact. Since the young generation does not have hands-on experience with life in a totalitarian regime they would rather ask questions than judge.

In the Czech Republic most events took place on 17th November 2009, the 20th anniversary of a brutal communist police action against a peaceful student demonstration that set off mass protests against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and ultimately led to its downfall. On that day the public benefit organization Opona organized a large happening called ‘20 years without a curtain – we have something to celebrate!’ which was attended by several thousand people. Just like twenty years ago a procession of mostly young people took the original route of the student demonstration from Albertov to Národní třída, but this time they were not stopped by a police cordon but by a large stage on which a number of popular bands appeared in the course of the evening. Organizers successfully avoided over-politicization of the event which would have been a logical and real threat. The only politician to appear on stage was former president Václav Havel. Havel also initiated a concert on 14th November at Pražská křižovatka which featured a number of his friends and supporters, among others Lou Reed, Suzanne Vega and Joan Baez.

Scientific bodies concerned with modern Czech history – the Institute of Contemporary History as a part of the Academy of Sciences, and the recently founded Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes – seized the opportunity to commemorate the anniversary of the Iron Curtain’s fall. Apart from large and detailed internet presentations based on huge amounts of archive documents and photographs they also prepared several conferences and small exhibitions.

The Czech government and other representatives of the Czech Republic approached the celebrations with a reticence through several ‘obligatory’ commemorative ceremonies. Especially president Václav Klaus was criticised for – apart from the traditional wreath-laying at the memorial at Národní třída – commemorating the 17th November mainly by launching his own book about the historic meaning of 17th November 1989. There were no other official celebrations at the Prague castle. According to the president, Czechs allegedly liked ‘less spectacular events’ better. Klaus was severely criticised for his selection of people who received state decorations in the jubilee year. Even popular singer Karel Gott was awarded a decoration despite being a symbol of collaboration with the communist regime in the eyes of many.

For that matter Klaus’ criteria of a ‘less spectacular event’ were also met by the international project ‘Himmelweit gleich – Vastly equal? Europe’s 1989’. It ultimately may not have attracted such media attention as other projects of the public benefit organization Opona, but it added an international dimension to the celebrations. There was no other exhibition like that in Prague.

Most events taking place in the Czech Republic on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Iron Curtain’s fall were not organized by the state but evolved from the initiative of NGOs and often thanks to an immense effort and the personal enthusiasm of their organizers. It might seem that this bears witness to liberalization of the Czech society where the state is not the directive body anymore, deciding what should be commemorated and how it should be done, but some greater support and fewer bureaucratic obstacles might not come amiss. Yet despite the fact that the state left celebrations up to the people and hardly interfered with their organization (just like it supported them only at a minimum level) it turned out that people, especially the young, realize how important that watershed of 1989 was. Not only did they realize that they wished to celebrate it but also that they were able to celebrate it properly on their own. The awareness of individual responsibility for keeping the memories of 1989 alive is well reflected in the declaration of Opona members: ‘Today we can no longer expect another revolution. Neither do we want to; after all, we have the regime we have longed for. So many times have we heard the truth that we have the democracy we deserve. Let’s strive to create a society we do not have to be ashamed of. Let us not be discouraged, because we do have something to celebrate!’

Miloslav Man (Prague) mastered in German Studies and History at the Pedagogical Faculty of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. Since 2006 he worked part-time at the University of Passau as a research assistent at the Chair of History Didactics. He is currently working on a German-Czech project dealing with regional cross-border history lessons. He acted as a mentor to the Prague team.