A monument to remember the departure of the Soviet soldiers from Czechoslovakia was unveiled in the town of Sliač, central Slovakia, on Monday. Slovakia is thus the first of the counties from the former Communist bloc with such a monument. Sliač, with its airport, was the last place in Slovakia from which the Soviet soldiers left in 1991. It is estimated that over half a million Soviet soldiers were in Czechoslovakia during a 23 year long occupation. In 1991, more than 73,000 soldiers and almost 40,000 family members left Czechoslovakia. Michael Kocáb was one of the leaders of the process that lead to the departure of the soldiers. He says the negotiations were difficult.
"They wanted to postpone the departure by moving the talks under the process of demilitarization. Thus, it would have taken another 10-15 years and the presence of the soldiers would be legalized",
explained Kocáb. Slovak president Andrej Kiska was also at the ceremony.
"Many believe that our freedom was restored in November 1989. However the real freedom came with the departure of the last occupying Soviet soldier who left exactly 25 years ago,"
said Andrej Kiska. Milan Julény who came up with the idea of the monument was a student at the time of the occupation.
"It was a great horror for everyone. No one knew if war would break out or what would happen to our country,"
said Julény. The cost of the monument reached €11,000. The money was collected from many sponsors and Slovak citizens.
