Political events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia (1948-1968)

The leaders of the socialist bloc countries - Ulbricht W., Kadar J., Suslov M.A., Shelest P.E. during the adoption of the statement on the "Prague Spring" during the conference of representatives of the communist and workers' parties of the socialist bloc countries, held in Bratislava on August 3, 1968. The national flags of the countries participating in the conference are above the balcony of the building in Bratislava.

The leaders of the participating countries sign the Bratislava Statement, among them - Ulbricht W., Kadar J., Gomulka W., Cyrankiewicz J., Podgorny N.V., Brezhnev L.I., Kosygin N.A. during the signing of the statement, Brezhnev puts his signature.

Kosygin puts his signature under the Statement, Suslov sits next to him.

The conference participants at the table answer journalists' questions.

The text of the Statement, published in the newspaper "Pravda".

Workers voting at a Czechoslovak enterprise during a rally against the attempted bourgeois coup in February 1948. Participants in a workers' demonstration in Prague carry banners.

Demonstration in Prague.

Members of the Gottwald government during a meeting.

President of Czechoslovakia Gottwald K. during a meeting.

Views of the National Front rally in Prague (top).

Gottwald speaking at the rally.

Rally participants applaud Gottwald.

Trucks with armed workers on the streets of Prague.

Riots, demonstrations and rallies in Budapest in 1956. Faces of demonstrators passing by.

Victims of the anti-communist putsch in Hungary.

A crowd around the body of a man hanged from a lamppost.

A photograph of one of the victims of the anti-communist riots.

Map of Europe in 1968, with the territory of Czechoslovakia colored (animation).

Publication about the events in Prague in the French newspaper "Figaro".

Directions of possible NATO aggression from the territory of Czechoslovakia (cartoon).

Texts of articles by Western political scientists about the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia.

Soviet tanks enter the streets of Prague.

Views of the streets of Prague, a column of self-propelled air defense guns on one of the streets of the city.

Faces of rally participants.

Soviet soldiers and officers on the armor of tanks.

A combat aircraft flies in the sky over Prague.

A protest demonstration against the introduction of Soviet troops moves along the streets of Prague, views and panorama of the demonstration.

Inspection of weapons seized from the opposition, wounded Soviet soldiers.

Journalists interview residents of Prague wounded by terrorists lying on stretchers.

Delivery of one of the wounded to the hospital.

Soviet armored vehicles and motorcades on the streets of Prague, residents of Prague express indignation.

An officer on the turret of an armored personnel carrier.

Outraged residents of Prague standing on the sidewalks.

Young people trying to stop tanks.

Speakers speaking at an opposition rally.

People listening to news from the West on portable radios.

Fragments of Western TV programmes about the events in Czechoslovakia.

Distribution of opposition newspapers and leaflets on the streets of Prague.

Tanks on the streets of Prague.

Tankers putting out a tank set on fire by militants.

Burning cars and Soviet armoured vehicles on the streets of Prague.

Speeches by opposition leaders Goldstücker, Hout, Vaculik and Prochazka.

Ludwig Veselov talking to fellow journalists.

The face of oppositionist Otto Schick.

Another speaker climbs onto the podium of an opposition rally.

View of part of the rally (from above).

Riots and terrorist attacks on the streets of Prague.

An injured girl is carried on a stretcher.

An ambulance on a city street.

Loading a stretcher with a victim into an ambulance, faces of Prague residents.

A burning bus.

View of the street, people near the burning bus.

Extinguishing a fire in Prague on Vinohradská Street near the House of Radio, a panorama of a vehicle with ammunition blown up by Soviet soldiers, destruction of buildings.

View of the damaged wall of the House of Radio.

Prague residents block the road to armored vehicles, argue with Soviet soldiers.

A Soviet officer argues with one of the protesters.

Faces of soldiers of the Czechoslovak army.

Representatives of the communist youth hand out newspapers, talk with Soviet soldiers.

People on the streets of Prague during protests, acts of vandalism.

German Foreign Minister Brandt W. speaks about the events in Czechoslovakia (simultaneously, in German, voice-over translation).

Combat equipment of the Bundeswehr during the Black Lion maneuvers held near the border with Czechoslovakia.

Observers at the command post.