Political art

One of the most powerful exhibits of political art I have seen in a long time is on display in Prague's Václavské námestí. As the project manager Karel Strachota writes, it is fitting that it is on display right below the monument to the national hero who first led the Czechoslovakian nation after its establishment in 1918 at the end of WWI.

"Stories of Injustice -- From the Files of Political Prisoners" shows a Communist prison camp surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by a rough-hewn watchtower. Some Czech secondary school students talked with me at length about the importance of this exhibit to them. They said the sign over the entrance roughly translates to the infamous sign at the Auschwitz concentration camp, that work will set you free.

From the other side, you can see images of people who died at the hands of the Communists. The one at the far left is a mirror where observers can ponder what their own fate might have been in this era.

Fresh flowers had been left in front of the "monument" to one of the victims.

This is a view of the site from the east side.

Here is a better view of the guards' watchtower.

Signs in Czech and English provided chilling details about the Communist era from 1948-1989, drawn from the records of the Office of the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism: 248 political prisoners were executed. Over 600 did not survive their interrogations at the hands of the Communists. At least 282 people died trying to cross the border to escape to the West. A book was for sale that consisted of archival materials of the Communists, but it had not been translated into English.

Just to the west of this display is another plaque honoring Jan Palach, the martyr who set himself on fire in 1968 protesting the Soviet invasion after the Prague Spring. Fresh flowers and candles surround the memorial.

Communism fell in November 1989, so this is an important time for these remembrances. I was impressed that so many young people were helping with the set-up and information desk at the exhibit. If anyone believes they don't care about their freedom from Communism, think again.

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