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Though the Prague Spring plays a defining role in how Czechs and Slovaks perceive themselves and their history, less attention is paid to the role the Roma played in this historical juncture and how these events impacted their lives and the political conditions under which they lived. At the same time it is well known that at the turn of the 1960s and 70s Roma culture flourished (especially literature), and the Union of Gypsies-Roma, a key organisation, was founded. However, many questions remain unanswered. What stance did the Roma elite and ordinary people adopt to the political crisis in Czechoslovakia and the invasion of the Warsaw Pact forces? How did the Prague Spring and the Soviet invasion transform the official and unofficial attitude of the Czechoslovak state and society to Roma people? It may well be that the search for answers to these questions will lead us to revise the way we look at the events of that time.

Guests: Ladislav Goral (chairman of RomPraha), the specialists in Roma studies Yevheniya Navrotska and Aladar Adam (chairman of the Zakarpattia-based organisation Romani Jag) from Ukraine, the historian Matěj Spurný, and the political scientist Pavel Barša
Chaired by: Václav Drozd