Photo/Illutration People at a department store in Prague in 1989 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tanks of the former Soviet Union began rolling into the Czechoslovakian capital of Prague near midnight on Aug. 20, 1968.

Alexander Dubcek, the reformist First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, was arrested the following morning and taken to Moscow.

During the tense week that followed, citizens of Prague surrounded the Soviet tanks in protest.

Until the invasion stopped Dubcek’s “Prague Spring” reforms, Czechoslovakia had been the most “liberal” East European nation, where young people sang Beatles songs in Czech and debated the meaning of the multiple-party system.

This made the Kremlin leadership fearful that Czechoslovakia’s “anti-revolutionary” movement would spread to other nations in the region.

“Czech forces were unable to mobilize, and the people did not go for any organized counterattack, either,” said Hiroshi Fukuda, 51, an associate professor at Seijo University.

Instead, young people in Prague resorted solely to non-military resistance, such as removing street signage to confuse Soviet tanks and airing “Hey Jude” in Czech nonstop from the underground broadcasting station.

Marta Kubisova, a Czech singer, was falsely accused of a crime by the new pro-Soviet regime, which severely curtailed her freedom to perform and even nearly forced her into exile, but she continued to resist.

Until her name was cleared in 1989 with the collapse of the Communist Party regime, Kubisova kept her head low and worked as a company clerk.

“The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” a 1988 American film, graphically portrayed the tanks that victimized Prague with violence.

Some scenes overlap with footage from war-torn Ukraine today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been misled into believing he could set up a puppet government as easily as the Soviet Union had done in Prague.

The citizens of Prague appeared as if they had allowed themselves to be subdued, but beneath the surface, they never lost their spirit of resistance.

Six months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, listening to Kubisova’s rendition of “Hey Jude” from the American film, I felt convinced that no tank can crush the people’s will to resist.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 26

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Related News