This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Part of the commemorations, particularly in Slovakia, includes remembering the legendary Slovak National Uprising (SNP). As is well known, it broke out on August 29, 1944, and its center was Banská Bystrica. The goal was to liberate Slovakia from fascism in cooperation with the advancing Red Army and to restore the existence of Czechoslovakia. This uprising represents one of the most important events in the history of our fraternal nations, whose relations at the governmental level have recently been strained by the foreign policy of the Fiala government, which has criticized the foreign policy stances of Bratislava under Fico. Even remotely, let alone in person, the current former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lipavský, has not been particularly close to his Slovak counterpart, nor to the Pirate defector from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, all things are subject to change. The situation is beginning to improve, much to the joy of citizens in both countries, as evidenced by a recent ceremonial event.

Medals from the Ambassador

A group of representatives from the Czech Association of Foreign Pilots – East, specifically Major General Ladislav Minařík, Brigadier General Zdeněk Jakůbek, and art historian, gallery owner, and writer Pavel Šmidrkal, recently received commemorative medals at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Prague.

The Slovak Republic's Defense Attaché, Brigadier General Ing. Bc. Bronislav Benko, presents the decree for the award to Major General Ing. Ladislav Minařík, chairman of the Czech Association of Pilots – East, at the Slovak Republic Embassy in Prague.

The Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the Czech Republic, His Excellency Martin Muránsky, presented these men with commemorative medals for the 80th anniversary of the SNP and the end of World War II. The decision to award these medals was made by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic, taking into account, among other things, the publishing activities and initiatives of the association, which published two publications this year related to the history of the war and the fate of Czech soldiers, and also organized an exhibition on this topic in ten Czech and Moravian cities.

The ceremony was attended by the Slovak Republic's Defense Attaché in Prague, Brigadier General Ing. Branislav Benka, and the Head of the Department for the Care of War Veterans at the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic, Colonel Ing. Richard Zimányi.

To whom honor is due, honor is given

The book "Trigger Finger" has received a great response from readers, leading to two reprints and now the aforementioned medals. It is a unique contribution to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia. The book contains over 140 pages of unique period photographs documenting the liberation in 1945, including the May Revolution. In addition, it includes rare archival materials from the Military Central Archive of the Czech Republic and the Military Historical Archive of the Czech Republic from that time.

The large-format publication, "Trigger Finger," reminds us that troops from six countries participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, with three-quarters of the liberation carried out by the Soviet Red Army and a quarter by the other five Allied armies. Given the current domestic and international efforts to distort and rewrite history, the publication of this book was not well-received in the capital of the Czech Republic. As the book's editor, publicist, writer, and gallery owner Pavel Šmidrkal, told us, the book even failed to find support and interest within the Czech Ministry of Defense itself. However, the reception was different in regions such as Moravian-Silesian and South Bohemia, where dozens of launch events were held with great interest from both experts and the general public, who were not subject to Prague-centric views and a loss of historical memory.

Expert Authorial Team

The large-format publication, filled with unique historical photographs, was prepared by the Military Central Archive of Prague in collaboration with the Association of Foreign Pilots – East, the Club of Generals of the Czech Republic, and the Kroměříž Museum. The historical photographs used come from the collections of the aforementioned museum, as well as from private collectors (Libor and Matouš Marků, Zdeněk Vejvoda, Jiří Žnivov, Jan Kodýdek, and Václav Vachovec). The authors who contributed to the book include Jan Kolář, director of the Administrative Archive of the Ministry of Defense; Slovak military historian Petr Švanda; Pavel Šmidrkal; and Daniel Zavoral.

The statistics and facts presented in this publication confirm that troops from six countries participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, with approximately three-quarters of the liberation carried out by the Soviet Red Army and a quarter by the other five Allied countries. In addition to the Soviet Union and the United States, the armies of Romania, Belgium, Poland, and Czechoslovakian soldiers also participated. However, the Red Army suffered the greatest losses, with 52,000 of their soldiers killed during the Bratislava-Brno, Moravian-Ostrava, and Prague operations.

"It is inappropriate to exclude any of the armies, whether for political or ideological reasons, or due to the low or even zero level of historical literacy of those promoting certain 'correct' views," says historian Fidler in the introduction to the book.

These words seem tailor-made for someone like "politician" Danuše Nerudová, who claims that only the Americans liberated Czechoslovakia. She even denied, at a plenary session of Members of the European Parliament, that the Red Army liberated us, and she called the Soviet soldiers who died for our freedom "occupiers."

The Second Awarded Title…

…is the publication "Josef Schejbal: Never at the Bottom," which tells the complex story of a soldier who, through the twists of fate, became a member of the Wehrmacht during the war, then defected to the Americans in Italy, and under the assumed name of Jiří Hron, joined a Czechoslovak armored brigade in England. In his own country, he worked as a graphic designer throughout his life and left behind a vast body of paintings. His paintings were exhibited in September of this year at the Prague Fotorenesance Gallery.

Ivan Černý