April 07, 2008

Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

(from left to right): Tvrko Jakovina (University of
Zagreb-Croatia), Csaba Bekes (Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Budapest-Hungary), Peter Ruggenthaler and Stefan Karner (both Boltzmann Institute for the Study of the Consequences of War, Graz-Austria.

Opening panel of the Prague Spring Conference with (from left to right)Guenter Bischof, Kenneth Zezulka (Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Louisiana), Peter Kolar (Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the U.S.),Carl Drichta
(Associate Vice Chanellor and Dean of etropolitan College), Peter Ruggenthaler (Boltzmann Institute for the Study of the Consequences of War, Graz-Austria)

A UNO CenterAustria Ten Year Anniversary Conference in Cooperation with the Boltzmann Institute for War Consequences Graz, Austria.

University of New Orleans
Thursday and Friday
3-4 April, 2008

Earl K. Long Library 407

The conference was organized by UNO's CenterAustria on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Prague Spring and the center's Ten-Year Anniversary Celebrations. Partner institutions and individuals included UNO's Eisenhower Center for American Studies, along with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the Study of the Consequences of War, Graz-Austria Other important conference sponsors included the Austrian Ministry of Science, the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, and the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation in Vienna.

After the intense two-day discussions, conference participants left nodoubt that Ambassador Koláø’s initial assessment was absolutely correct– both the high hopes in the bloc, Europe and around the world aroused by the reform communists during the Prague Spring and the surprising shock of the Warsaw Pact invasion made this a watershed event in Cold War history. The courage of the Prague Spring reformers served as an inspiration and model of Solidarity in Poland and also left a mark on Gorbachev and the dramatic reform movements of 1988 – 1991 that led to the final collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire.