Moscow archives open for Czech historians to search for truth about the 1968 invasion
Czech historians are to be allowed access to much of the Russian archival material that was closed to them up to now. Likely to be of the greatest interest to Czech researchers is documentation connected to the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which brought an end to the country's attempt at reforms aimed at bringing "socialism with a human face". Negotiations to secure Czechs' access to Soviet-era archives took years: An agreement was finally reached last week between the chairman of the Czech Senate Petr Pithart and the head of the Russian Parliament's upper chamber Sergey Mironov. Radio Prague's Martin Mikule recently spoke with Senator Pithart and asked him for a behind-the-scenes look at how the deal was reached.
"It was not an easy task. First of all I've had to establish more personal relations with my Russian partner Mr. Sergey Mironov. And than after a year of our contact, in January this year, when the delegation of Senate was invited to Russia, I decided to talk about it just with him, without my delegation - face to face - no interpreters. I suggested that I wouldn't let the media know about our conversation. I didn't want him to have the feeling of being under pressure of media."
What kind of archives are actually going to be open for the Czech researchers?
Is the access limited only to a certain sort of documents or will the researchers be allowed to read all the documents in the archives?
"I am sure - and it confirms the experience of the our first historian in Moscow - that it regards all documents, except the KGB archives, as I said. But this would be the same in any state in the world."
What do you expect from this? Do you believe that any particular information can be found or do you expect rather specification of already known facts?
"I don't expect any revolutionary discoveries. What is actually also important is to find what did not happen. You may call it 'destroyed hypothesis'. When even part of the archives is closed to public it may harm the soul of the nation. Anybody can spin fantastic constructions that nobody can disprove. So even the finding of what did not happen is important for the mental health of the nation."
Do you expect any further consequences of the findings? Do you believe, for example, that some further accusations of the former communist leaders could be made based on these findings?
"This can not be excluded. We have to be prepared for legally relevant information."
