October 12 set to become Day of Samizdat in Czechia

Czechia is set to mark the history of samizdat in the country with a special day. The government has approved an amendment tabled by a group of coalition MPs under which October 12 would become the Day of Samizdat, celebrating the production of illicit printed materials such as books and magazines under the pre-1989 Communist regime.

On October 12, 1988 a group of 92 Czech and Slovak samizdat publishers wrote an open letter to the then Communist president Gustáv Husák condemning the jailing of one of them, Christian activist Ivan Polanský.