NeverMore 68: The foreign perspective on the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia
NeverMore 68 is a festival that commemorates the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968. Now in its fourth year, this year’s edition focuses on “The Foreign Perspective,” particularly how British international media, government officials, and civil society responded to the invasion. The exhibitions feature newly declassified documents, rare media coverage, and testimonies from abroad. I spoke with Barbora Šubrtová, the founder and main organizer of the event, about what else visitors can expect this year.
Tell me about this year's NeverMore 68 event: the theme and what it's about.
“This is the fourth year of the event. While the main theme remains the commemoration of August 21st and the Soviet occupation that followed, we always choose a specific sub-theme. This year, it's the foreign perspective, how other countries, foreign media, and civil society responded to the Russian, Soviet at that time, occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
“This includes countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain at the time. We chose this focus because of the current geopolitical context, which is changing dramatically. We are seeing that international law and agreements are not followed anymore. Today, we are in the position of being the ‘foreign perspective’ on others’ conflicts. So it’s important to remember how painful it was when the world responded to our occupation only with empty words and diplomatic words.
“So, it’s a reminder of how unacceptable it would be if we expected other nations today to tolerate occupation in a way we never would. We wanted to reflect on how it felt when Soviet tanks rolled into our country and the rest of the world was just watching Soviet tanks coming to Czechoslovakia.
"We wanted to reflect on how it felt when Soviet tanks rolled into our country and the rest of the world was just watching Soviet tanks coming to Czechoslovakia."
“Within this theme, we have a specific focus on the British perspective. Originally, we considered also including the American perspective in connection with Radio Free Europe, but the situation in the US changed dramatically after the elections, affecting their involvement with Radio Free Europe. So we decided to focus on the British perspective.
“Another reason was that in Britain, there was a strong Czech community, made up of people who had fled Czechoslovakia after the Second World War and after the Communist coup in 1948. The British response was therefore quite distinct. We were nicely surprised that the British Embassy and the British Council were eager to collaborate. The result is an exhibition titled British Perspective, which is showing, for the first time in this way, declassified government documents from an August 22nd, 1968 meeting focused on the invasion.
“We also feature British press coverage, which was strongly critical, and the reactions of British [civil] society. There were multiple demonstrations, even from left-wing groups. The 1968 invasion created a deep crisis within western Communist parties, who saw the invasion as a betrayal of true communist ideals and an imperialist move. The English Communist Party itself condemned it.
“The exhibition highlights these details, which may be small but are historically significant. Some visitors may even be discovering them for the first time. We also host a panel discussion on diplomatic perspectives, featuring representatives from the British Embassy, the British Council, and a former Czech ambassador to the ministry of foreign affairs. It explores not only the occupation of Czechoslovakia, but also how diplomatic circles respond to armed invasions today, making it still very relevant.”
If I understand correctly, the responses at the time were quite varied. There was criticism even from the left, those who saw it as imperialistic and contradictory to communist ideals, and from the general public, condemning the invasion on European soil. Were there people who supported the invasion, and is that represented in the exhibition?
“No. Even among the left-leaning protestors, the invasion was condemned as an act of violence. Most of the protests were led by left-oriented students. I haven’t found any material indicating that there were demonstrations in support of the invasion by British citizens.”
And how do you present all of this? Are there media excerpts, videos, or newspaper clippings?
“Yes. We have original documents, like official diplomatic communications and internal government materials. We accessed archives and used the digital archive of British newspapers, which includes issues going back to the 19th century. So we were able to gather front pages and headlines from nearly every paper published during that time.
“These headlines and images are on display, along with photographs from demonstrations. We also have diplomatic reports written by Czech diplomats from the Czech embassy in London, describing the demonstrations. On the video screen, there’s a documentary featuring foreign witnesses who were in Czechoslovakia on that date. One of them is an English woman, Barbara Day, who was having something I would call ‘a hippie summer,’ spending the summer with a Czech theater collective. During that time, she witnessed the invasion in a documentary made by Post Bellum’s Paměť národa project.”
And the broader takeaway from the exhibition seems to be about learning from the past, reflecting on what it meant for Czechoslovakia to be occupied and applying that lens to how we view foreign conflicts today. The further removed the conflict, the easier it is to ignore it. Obviously, Ukraine comes to mind now, especially with the recent Trump-Zelensky meeting. What would you say is your hope for the biggest takeaway you hope visitors walk away with?
“The original purpose of the whole event was to create a platform and a space for both the public and organizations dealing with this part of our history. The main purpose is to remember that it happened. I would say, a large portion of the younger generation knows very little, or nothing, about this date in our history.
“Keeping this memory alive is essential to national consciousness. Because if we remember what really happened, we can better recognize the patterns that are repeating today, 57 years later.
“I’m disappointed by how quickly some in Czech society have accepted Russian narratives about the occupation, for example, that Ukrainian soldiers were the ones who occupied us, or that Ukrainians made the decisions in the Soviet Politburo, which is historically false.
“That’s why it’s so important to remember: we were once the ones who were occupied. And in my opinion, the reasons for both occupations are quite similar. Czechoslovakia wanted to take a more democratic and open path, just as Ukraine does now. Both dreams were crushed by tanks, then Soviet, now Russian. Some of them are even the same.
“I can’t really see how this can’t be a warning sign. Every day we hear new threats on Russian TV, saying we’ll be next.
“So this is our way and my way of contributing, by helping our country stay in a democratic direction, together with the rest of Europe, in support of human rights and democratic principles.”
