1.
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
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It has been regarded as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Several other state symbols were changed in 1960, the official name of the country was the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Conventional wisdom suggested that it would be known as simply the Czechoslovak Republic—its official name from 1920 to 1938, the traditional etymology derives it from an eponymous leader Čech who led the tribe into Bohemia. Modern theories consider it a derivative, e. g. from četa. Meanwhile, the name Slovak was taken from the Slavic Slavs as the origin of the word Slav itself remains uncertain, during the states existence, it was simply referred to Czechoslovakia or sometimes the CSSR and CSR in short. In April 1945, the Third Republic was formed, led by a National Front of six parties, the Communists were the big winners in the 1946 elections, taking a total of 114 seats. Not only was this the time a Communist party finished first in a free election anywhere in Europe during the Cold War era. Klement Gottwald, leader of the KSČ, became Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, hope in Moscow was waning for a communist victory in the 1948 elections following a May 1947 Kremlin report concluded that reactionary elements praising western democracy had strengthened. Thereafter, Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin arranged the Czechoslovak coup détat, followed by the occupation of non-Communist ministers ministries, on 25 February 1948, Beneš, fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention, capitulated and appointed a Communist-dominated government who was sworn in two days later. Although members of the other National Front parties still figured, this was, for all intents and purposes. Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, the prominent minister still left who wasnt either a Communist or fellow traveler, was found dead two weeks later. On 30 May, a single list of candidates from the National Front—now an organization dominated by the Communists—was elected to the National Assembly, after passage of the Ninth-of-May Constitution on 9 June 1948, the country became a Peoples Republic until 1960. Although it was not a completely Communist document, it was enough to the Soviet model that Beneš refused to sign it. Hed resigned a week before it was ratified, and died in September. The Ninth-of-May Constitution confirmed that the KSČ possessed absolute power, as other Communist parties had in the Eastern Bloc, on 11 July 1960, the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia was promulgated, changing the name of the country from the Czechoslovak Republic to the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. With the exception of the Prague Spring in the late 1960s, Czechoslovakia was characterized by the absence of democracy, in the religious sphere, atheism was officially promoted and taught. In 1969, the became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic. Under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state were largely eliminated, a number of ministries, such as Education, were formally transferred to the two republics
2.
Czech language
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Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. It is spoken by over 10 million people and is the language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of being intelligible to a very high degree. In the later 18th to mid-19th century, the written standard was codified in the context of the Czech National Revival. The main vernacular, known as Common Czech, is based on the vernacular of Prague, the Moravian dialects spoken in the eastern part of the country are mostly also counted as Czech, although some of their eastern variants are closer to Slovak. The Czech phoneme inventory is moderate in size, comprising five vowels, words may contain uncommon consonant clusters, including one consonant represented by the grapheme ř, or lack vowels altogether. Czech orthography is simple, and has used as a model by phonologists. Czech is classified as a member of the West Slavic sub-branch of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and this branch includes Polish, Kashubian, Upper and Lower Sorbian and Slovak. Slovak is by far the closest genetic neighbor of Czech, the West Slavic languages are spoken in an area classified as part of Central Europe. Around the 7th century, the Slavic expansion reached Central Europe, the West Slavic polity of Great Moravia formed by the 9th century. The Christianization of Bohemia took place during the 9th and 10th centuries, the Bohemian language is first recorded in writing in glosses and short notes during the 12th to 13th centuries. Literary works written in Czech appear in the early 14th century, the first complete Bible translation also dates to this period. Old Czech texts, including poetry and cookbooks, were produced outside the university as well, literary activity becomes widespread in the early 15th century in the context of the Bohemian Reformation. There was no standardization distinguishing between Czech and Slovak prior to the 15th century, the publication of the Kralice Bible between 1579 and 1593 became very important for standardization of the Czech language in the following centuries. In 1615, the Bohemian diet tried to declare Czech to be the official language of the kingdom. After the Bohemian Revolt which was defeated by the Habsburgs in 1620 and this emigration together with other consequences of the Thirty Years War had a negative impact on the further use of the Czech language. In 1627, Czech and German became official languages of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the 18th century German became dominant in Bohemia and Moravia, the modern standard Czech language originates in standardization efforts of the 18th century. Changes include the shift of í to ej and é to í and the merging of í
3.
Mass games
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Mass games are now performed only in the May Day Stadium but in the 90s there were mass games held at the Kim Il Sung Stadium. Students practiced every day from January onwards, when the students turn the pages the scene or individual elements of the scene change, up to 170 pages make up one book. These are the qualities required of a man of the communist type. Mass gymnastics play an important role in training schoolchildren to acquire these communist qualities, Mass gymnastics foster particularly healthy and strong physiques, a high degree of organization, discipline and collectivism in schoolchildren. For propagating Massenturnen, Germany started Massenturnen show, Mass games developed alongside 19th century nationalist movements, particularly the Czech Sokol movement. Participants were factory workers brought in by Party Secretaries, in Japan, schools adopted German gymnastics and mass games were started. Since 1925, mass games were played in Meiji Jingū Kyōgi Taikai, in Romania, the communist government organized compulsory mass games after Communist Party leader Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife had visited China and saw such games there. These were the hardest working days of the year since every individual was required to participate along with his fellow workers, being late on this day or not shouting the party leaders name loudly enough would lead to being reported by fellow workers and to prosecutors. In Bulgaria, mass games were held during the Zname na mira international youth festivals. However, Bulgaria did not have a tradition of mass games, today, mass games are regularly performed only in North Korea, where they take place to celebrate national holidays such as the birthdays of rulers Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. In recent years, they have been the attraction of the Arirang Festival in Pyongyang. The 2004 documentary film by VeryMuchSo Productions and Koryo Tours A State of Mind details the training of two girls from Pyongyang who perform in the mass games. Arirang mass games were first performed in 2002 in Pyongyangs May Day Stadium and have held every year since - between August and October and on one occasion in Spring. The show was on 4 times a week, tourists from all over the World were welcomed to the DPRK during Mass Games. Sokol organization for Czech and other, eastern European youth athletic organize exposition, competition, and nationalist identity building event organized called Slet. The word slet means a gathering of falcons, the first Sokol slet was held in 1882 in Prague to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Sokol organization. Since 1994 it is held every 6 years and it is also possible to consider the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games as instances of mass games. Images Arirang Mass Games North Korea Videos Mass Game Arirang on YouTube
4.
Prague Offensive
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The Prague Offensive was the last major Soviet operation of World War II in Europe. The offensive, and the battle for Prague, was fought on the Eastern Front from 6 May to 11 May 1945 and this battle for the city is particularly noteworthy in that it ended after the Third Reich capitulated on 8 May 1945. This battle is notable in that it was fought concurrently with the Prague Uprising. The city of Prague was ultimately liberated by the USSR during the Prague Offensive, all of the German troops of Army Group Centre and many of Army Group Ostmark were killed or captured, or fell into the hands of the Allies after the capitulation. The capitulation of Army Group Centre was nine days after the fall of Berlin, by the beginning of May 1945, Germany had been decisively defeated by the coalition of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Germanys capital, Berlin, was on the verge of capitulation in the face of a massive Soviet attack and the great bulk of Germany had been conquered. However, in southeastern Germany, parts of Austria and Czechoslovakia, there were large bodies of active German troops of Army Group Centre. On 2 May 1945, general Alfred Jodl ordered the German forces to avoid being captured by Russia, the German remnant forces continued to resist the USSR 4th and 1st Ukrainian Fronts while only accepted armistice in the Western Front. And while the German command body gradually lost its control over its armed forces, SS and Gestapo forces were still working at its highest intensity. SS officers and comannders were increasingly affiliated in command and control of German armed forces, and in contrast to the declining quality of Nazi units in the last day of the war, SS corps still maintained their remarkably high fighting capability. The Nazi regime considered Czechoslovakia and neighboring areas as their last bastion in the case Berlin fell. Therefore, in 1945 they concentrated many powerful military units in the region, including elements of 6th SS Panzer Army, 1st and 4th Panzer Armies, and 7th, 8th and 17th Combined Armies. Alfred Jodl has ordered the local Nazi regime to prepare numerous fortified buildings which could serve as offices for the new Nazi government and German High Command. From 30 April to 1 May 1945, SS Senior Group Leader, Frank was also a general of the Waffen SS. The situation in Prague was unstable, Frank knew that several Soviet Army fronts were advancing towards Prague. More immediately, he was faced with a city population ready to be liberated, at the same time, two divisions of the Russian Liberation Army arrived in the vicinity of Prague. The KONR 1st Division encamped north of the city while the KONR 2nd Division took up positions south of the city, ostensibly allied with the Germans, the allegiance of the KONR forces would prove to vary depending on the situation they faced. On the Allied side, both Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin saw Prague as a significant prize, the seizure of which could influence the political makeup of postwar Czechoslovakia
5.
Communism
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Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, anarchism, and the political ideologies grouped around both. The primary element which will enable this transformation, according to analysis, is the social ownership of the means of production. Likewise, some communists defend both theory and practice, while others argue that historical practice diverged from communist principles to a greater or lesser degree, according to Richard Pipes, the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in Ancient Greece. At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, in the medieval Christian church, for example, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and their other property. Communist thought has also traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia, More portrayed a society based on ownership of property. In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine, in the early 19th century, Various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the emphasis with a rational. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana, in its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels, in 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. The 1917 October Revolution in Russia set the conditions for the rise to power of Lenins Bolsheviks. The revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks had a majority, the event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development, Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule, the moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenins Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was more fully developed. The Great Purge of 1937–1938 was Stalins attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the Communist Party and its leading role in the Second World War saw the emergence of the Soviet Union as a superpower, with strong influence over Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The European and Japanese empires were shattered and Communist parties played a role in many independence movements
6.
Sokol
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The Sokol movement is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of a mind in a sound body. The Sokol, through lectures, discussions, and group outings provided what Tyrš viewed as physical, moral and this training extended to men of all ages and classes, and eventually to women. The movement also spread all the regions populated by Slavic cultures, (Poland, Slovene Lands, Serbia, Bulgaria, the Russian Empire. In many of these nations, the organization served as an early precursor to the Scouting movements. Though officially an institution above politics, the Sokol played an important part in the development of Czech nationalism, the idea for physical training centers was not a new one. The Sokol movement consciously traced its roots in physical education to the athletes, more directly, the nature of the Sokol was influenced by the German Turnverein, mass-based, nationalist-minded gymnastics societies founded by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1811. Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of the first Sokol in Prague in 1862, born Friedrich Emanuel Tirsch into a German-speaking family in 1834, Tyrš grew up under the influence of the Romantic nationalism that gave rise to the uprisings that swept across Europe in 1848. He received an education at the University of Prague, where he majored in philosophy. It was not until the early 1860s that he involved in the Czech nationalist cause. The first Sokol worked to develop new Czech terminology for the exercises, which centred on marching drills, fencing. They designed a uniform that was a mélange of Slavic and revolutionary influences, brown Russian trousers, a Polish revolutionary jacket, a Montenegrin cap, a Sokol flag, red with a white falcon, was designed by the writer Karolína Světlá. The Prague Sokol initially drew its leaders from the ranks of politicians and its members from the petite bourgeoisie, the first president was Jindřich Fügner, an ethnic German who was a member of the Czech cause. Most founders were members of the Young Czechs party, the most influential including Prince Rudolf von Thurn-Taxis, Josef Barák. Within the first year the Sokols expanded beyond Prague, first into the Moravia, initially the majority of members were students and professionals, but over time there was a trend towards increasingly working class members. The Sokol training went through periods of greater militarized training, during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and this militaristic side of the Sokol movement continued to resurface throughout its history. The internal issues that were to plague the Sokol movement over the years emerged almost immediately and these internal arguments reached fruition during the 1870s with the power struggle in leadership between the members of Old Czechs and the Young Czechs parties. Theoretically, the Sokol was a society “above politics, theoretically, the Sokol was also open equally to members of all classes
7.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
8.
Strahov Stadium
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The Great Strahov Stadium is a stadium in the Strahov district of Prague, Czech Republic. It was built for displays of synchronized gymnastics on a massive scale, when it was an active sports venue, it had a capacity of around 220,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium and the fourth largest sports venue ever built. Today, it is no longer in use for sports events, it is a training centre for Sparta Prague. The stadium is sited on Petřín hill overlooking the old city and it can be accessed by taking the Petřín funicular up the hill through the gardens. Construction began based on plans by the architect Alois Dryák, on a stadium in 1926. Further construction occurred in 1948 and 1975, the playing field, surrounded by seating on all sides, is 63,500 square metres. The stadium currently serves Sparta Prague as a centre with 8 football pitches. The original stadium dates from the First Republic between the World Wars and served as a venue for popular Sokol displays of synchronized gymnastics. The Sokol displays were renamed Spartakiáda during the communist era, referring to the power, some of the most popular shows were those of young well-trained recruits who wore only boxer shorts while on the display or women dancing in miniskirts. Motor racing also took place in the stadium in the mid-1960s, a few days after the end of World War II, two units of the United States Army played a friendly match of American football. On September 28,1945, a crowd of 40,000 watched soldier-athletes of the 94th Infantry Division defeat a team from the XXII Corps, since 1990, the stadium has been used for concerts. There are plans to convert the mammoth Strahov stadium complex into a commercial zone complete with hotels, restaurants, another suggestion is to convert the area into a leisure mecca for the 21st century. There were plans to rebuild the area as an Olympic village if Prague won a future Olympic bid, sport in the Czech Republic Stadion Evžena Rošického Photo gallery of the stadium
9.
Prague Spring
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The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. The Prague Spring reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech, a large wave of emigration swept the nation. A spirited non-violent resistance was mounted throughout the country, involving attempted fraternization, painting over and turning street signs, defiance of various curfews, etc. While the Soviet military had predicted that it would take four days to subdue the country the resistance held out for eight months, there were sporadic acts of violence and several suicides by self-immolation, but there was no military resistance. Gustáv Husák, who replaced Dubček and also president, reversed almost all of Dubčeks reforms. The Prague Spring inspired music and literature such as the work of Václav Havel, Karel Husa, Karel Kryl, and Milan Kunderas novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The process of de-Stalinization in Czechoslovakia had begun under Antonín Novotný in the late 1950s and early 1960s, following the lead of Nikita Khrushchev, Novotný proclaimed the completion of socialism, and the new constitution, accordingly, adopted the name Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. In the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia underwent an economic downturn, the Soviet model of industrialization applied poorly to Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was already quite industrialized before World War II and the Soviet model mainly took into account less developed economies, novotnýs attempt at restructuring the economy, the 1965 New Economic Model, spurred increased demand for political reform as well. A few months later, at a party meeting, it was decided that actions against the writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Since only a part of the union held these beliefs. Dubček replaced Novotný as First Secretary on 5 January 1968, on 22 March 1968, Novotný resigned his presidency and was replaced by Ludvík Svoboda, who later gave consent to the reforms. Early signs of change were few, goldstucker tested the boundaries of Dubček’s devotion to freedom of the press when he appeared on a television interview as the new head of the union. Despite the official government statement that allowed for freedom of the press, goldstucker suffered no repercussions, and Dubček instead began to build a sense of trust among the media, the government, and the citizens. It was under Goldstücker that the name was changed to Literární listy, and on 29 February 1968. By August 1968, Literární listy had a circulation of 300,000, on the 20th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s Victorious February, Dubček delivered a speech explaining the need for change following the triumph of socialism. Dubček declared the mission was to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations
10.
Normalization (Czechoslovakia)
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In the history of Czechoslovakia, normalization is a name commonly given to the period 1969–87. Normalization is sometimes used in a sense to refer only to the period 1969 to 1971. The official ideology of normalization is sometimes called Husakism after the Czechoslovak leader Gustáv Husák, the chief objectives of Husáks normalization were the restoration of firm party rule and the reestablishment of Czechoslovakias status as a committed member of the socialist bloc. In the fall of 1969, twenty-nine liberals on the Central Committee of the KSČ were replaced by conservatives, among the liberals ousted was Dubček, who was dropped from the Presidium. Husák also consolidated his leadership by appointing potential rivals to the new government positions created as a result of the 1968 Constitutional Law of Federation, once it had consolidated power, the regime moved quickly to implement other normalization policies. In the two following the invasion, the new leadership revoked some reformist laws and simply did not enforce others. It returned economic enterprises, which had been given substantial independence during the Prague Spring, to centralized control through contracts based on central planning and it reinstated extreme police control, a step that was reflected in the harsh treatment of demonstrators marking the first-year anniversary of the August intervention. The method by which the KSČ under Husák ruled was commonly summed up as reluctant terror, the result was a regime that, while not a complete return to Stalinism, was far from being a liberal one either. The membership of the KSČs Presidium changed very little after 1971, the Sixteenth Party Congress in 1981 reelected the incumbent members of the Presidium and Secretariat and elevated one candidate member, Milouš Jakeš, to full membership in the Presidium. The Seventeenth Party Congress in 1986 retained the incumbent Secretariat and Presidium, in March 1987, Josef Korčák retired from the Presidium and was replaced by Ladislav Adamec. At the same time, Hoffman, a Presidium member, was appointed a Central Committee secretary. In December 1987, Husák was forced to retire, and Jakeš became general secretary of the KSČ, popular control during this era of orthodoxy was maintained through various means. Repeated arrests and imprisonment of persons opposing the regime, such as members of Charter 77 and religious activists, continued throughout the 1970s, another means by which the Husák regime maintained control was to offer considerable consumer gains as a substitute for the loss of personal freedom. Government policies in the first half of the 1970s resulted in economic growth. The widespread availability of material goods placated the general populace and promoted acceptance of Husáks stringent political controls. During the late 1970s, however, Czechoslovakias economy began to stagnate, although the Husák regime succeeded in preserving the status quo in Czechoslovakia for nearly two decades, the 1980s brought internal and external pressures to reform. Domestically, poor economic performance hindered the ability to produce the goods needed to satisfy consumer demands. Pressure for political change continued from activists representing, for example, the Roman Catholic Church, externally, Czechoslovakia struggled to find a suitable response to the changes introduced by the new leadership in Moscow under Mikhail Gorbachev
11.
Velvet Revolution
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The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from November 17 to December 29,1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia combined students, the result was the end of 41 years of one-party rule in Czechoslovakia, and the subsequent dismantling of the planned economy and conversion to a parliamentary republic. On November 17,1989, riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague and that event sparked a series of demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By November 20, the number of protesters assembled in Prague grew from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated 500,000, a two-hour general strike involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27. On November 24, the top leadership of the Communist Party, including General Secretary Miloš Jakeš. Two days later, the legislature deleted the sections of the Constitution giving the Communists a monopoly of power. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany, on December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the parliament on December 28. In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946, the term Velvet Revolution was coined by Rita Klímová, the dissidents English translator who later became the ambassador to the United States. The term was used internationally to describe the revolution, although the Czechs also used the term internally, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Slovakia used the term Gentle Revolution, the term that Slovaks used for the revolution from the beginning. The Czech Republic continues to refer to the event as the Velvet Revolution, the Communist Party seized power on February 25,1948. No official opposition parties operated thereafter, dissidents published home-made periodicals, but they faced persecution by the secret police. Thus, the public did not openly support the dissidents for fear of dismissal from work or school. A writer or filmmaker could have his/her books or films banned for an attitude towards the socialist regime. These rules were easy to enforce, as all schools, media and they were under direct supervision and often were used as accusatory weapons against rivals. The nature of blacklisting changed gradually after the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies of Glasnost, the Czechoslovak Communist leadership verbally supported Perestroika, but made few changes. Speaking about the Prague Spring of 1968 was taboo, the first anti-government demonstrations occurred in 1988 and 1989, but these were dispersed and participants were repressed by the police. By the late 1980s, discontent with living standards and economic inadequacy gave way to support for economic reform
12.
World Gymnaestrada
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The World Gymnaestrada is the largest general gymnastics exhibition. It is held four years much like the Olympics. But the focus of this event is not on winning medals, the Gymnaestrada is about Group Performances – some with hundreds or even thousands of participants. Adults and children of age and description perform. Countries from around the world together to showcase their talent. The choreography is designed both to challenge the participants and to delight audiences, routines are performed at various venues within the host country. Large group routines are known as mass routines which involve hundreds of gymnasts, the mass routines are often performed in large stadiums where spectators can take in routines performed by gymnasts from all over the world. The World Gymnaestrada is the successor to the two Lingiads that were held in Stockholm in 1939 and 1949, the name Gymnaestrada is formed from the words gymnastik, estrada and strada. It is believed to have been invented by J H Sommer, chairman of the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation and Mrs J. v. d. Most-Leyerweert and they submitted their request for an international meet at the 1951 FIG conference. The World Gymnaestrada 2015 was held in Helsinki, Finland, from 12 to 18 July and it was the largest event ever held in Finland in terms of number of participants, surpassing even the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki
