Unique reminder of Velvet Revolution / Netradicni pripominka Sametove revoluce

This year’s 18th (!!) anniversary of the Velvet Revolution is celebrated in kind of an untraditional way. The Wenceslav’s Square in Prague is exhibiting a mocked-up communist-era work camp that has it all: the barbed wired fences, a watch tower and – of course – the famous sign over the entrance gate reading “Praci ke svobode” (Let us work toward freedom). When walking through this camp one can see the cardboard cutouts of real-time political prisoners with a little attached side note briefly explaining about what their “crime” was and how were they punished for it. The director of this whole idea, Simon Panek, explains that one of the main reasons why this exhibition was built was to wake up the young Czech generation. Current high schoolers were born after the communist era so the whole issue is sort of boring/foreign to them. Plus, they act too cool to care. So this way they won’t be able to miss it….

More on Velvet Revolution can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_revolution

CZ: Tento rok bylo vyroci Sametove revoluce oslaveno dosti netradicnim zpusobem. Vaclavske namesti vystavuje po dobu 10ti dnu kulisu komunistickeho vezeni/pracoviho tabora. Jeho tvurci nevynechali nic: plot s ostnatymi draty, vezenska vez a nechybi tam ani obrovsky napis umisteny nad vezenskou branou se znamymi slovy “Praci ke svobode”. Po vchodu do vezenske budovy se navstevnici muzou obeznamit s papundeklovymi postavami veznu, kde u kazde teto krabicove postavy je upevnena tabulka, ktera popisuje jaky “zlocin” vezen vykonal, a jak za to byl potrestan. Vedouci teto vystavby pan Panek nam prozrazuje, ze hlavnim cilem cele teto exhibice je ze, chce vzbudit nynejsi mladou generaci. Dnesni stredoskolaci byli narozeni jiz po padu komunismu, tudiz je jim cela tato era jaksi cizi a nudna. Timto zpusobem tuto pripominku nebudou moci prehlednout…

Source: http://incentraleurope.radio.cz/ice/issue/97412