Slovakia to mark August 21, 1968 as Commemoration Day for the first time

For the first time in history, the Slovak public will commemorate the invasion of Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops on August 21, 1968 as a commemoration day. "It should be remembered that it was an occupation of our country as well as an extremely hard military invasion, in which more than 100 people died by the end of 1968, more than 20 of them in Slovakia," historian Patrik Dubovsky of the Nation's Memory Institute told TASR press agency.
The number of victims associated with the invasion and the continued presence of Soviet troops until 1991 is estimated at more than 400. It was the largest military action in Europe since the end of World War II.
"It was an unjustifiable intervention, which the rest of Europe experienced very little - for example, Hungary in 1956, or some actions in Poland. These, however, occurred relatively shortly after the end of World War II. In the 1960s, however, disagreement with reforms didn't have to be dealt with in such a cruel way," said Dubovsky.
The Day of the Victims of the Occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was added among the commemoration days through a law approved by Parliament in November 2020. The occupation is also commemorated on June 21, the Day of the Departure of the Soviet Occupation Forces from Czechoslovakia in 1991.
On the night of August 20-21, 1968 Warsaw Pact armies invaded the territory of Czechoslovakia. Five socialist countries took part in the operation, codenamed 'Danube' - the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and the German Democratic Republic, the last of which didn't actually participate in the invasion. The main purpose of the operation was to suppress efforts to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia under the so-called Prague Spring.