Martin Simecka and Jaroslav Spurny on czech confrontation of the past

The Czech Parliament has decided to create an government office to administer the files of the former secret police. It also will investigate the character of the totalitarian regimes under National Socialism and Communism. Jaroslav Spurny and Martin M. Simecka approve: "This institution can remind us of things that we've nearly forgotten: What life was like in a system where one could get two years for writing 'free elections' on the lavatory door; where the refusal to join a 'brigade' meant the end of your career, where you would be expelled from school for going to a 'banned' concert and where you were punished for having long hair and wearing jeans. In the 1990s we hoped to see justice done for these 'banal evils' of communism. But this did not happen. Few protagonists of the regime were convicted... After 1989 it was easy to get the impression that everyone had been something of a resistance fighter, that no one had collaborated with the regime. The archives may well be a merciless mirror to remind us, and especially our children, of the way we were."

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