A generation conflict over Milan Kundera

The declaration of solidarity by eleven internationally acclaimed writers with Czech author Milan Kundera, who stands accused of having denounced an anti-communist agent to the authorities in the Stalinist Prague of 1950, is incomprehensible, writes the conservative daily Lidové Noviny: "Why are the writers so stauchly supporting Kundera, who himself has remained silent, although they have no knowledge of the facts? ... For a long time we were told that in coming to terms with the past we must follow the example of Germany, where just twenty years after the war the youth started asking questions about their parents' involvement in the Nazi regime. Those were uncomfortable questions, certainly. Now, almost twenty years after the Velvet Revolution [virtually non-violent system change in November 1989], the younger generation here is questioning their parents. And what happens? They are being chastised by their country's intellectuals - including Václav Havel - and by the leading lights of the literary world."

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