A traditional memorial service at the radio will commemorate the victims of the May Uprising of 1945

Commercial presentation Update: 05/05/2024 00:10
Issued by: 05/05/2024, 00:10

Prague – The participants of a traditional memorial service at the Czech Radio building in Prague’s Vinohrady will today remember the events of the Prague Uprising of May 1945 and honor the memory of those who died in the battles against Nazi domination 79 years ago. Speaker of the Senate Miloš Vystrčil (ODS), Head of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09), Slovak Ambassador Ingrid Brocková, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS) and CEO of Czech Radio René Zavoral will speak at the event. It will also be attended by soldiers or witnesses of historical events.

The uprising began on May 5, 1945. The insurgents managed to force the Germans to surrender, prevent many times more bloodshed, and provoke a faster intervention by the Red Army. After February 1948, the communist regime sentenced the commander of the uprising, General Karel Kutlvašr, to life imprisonment, and other representatives of the insurgents were also persecuted. The Prague uprising was preceded by a series of rebellions throughout the territory of the protectorate.

The anniversary of the May Uprising of the Czech people is an important day in the Czech calendar. On Wednesday, May 8, the Czech Republic, together with most European countries, will commemorate as a national holiday the day when Nazi Germany signed its capitulation on May 8, 1945.

At the end of World War II, the Soviet army liberated most of the territory of what was then Czechoslovakia. American troops had to stop at the demarcation line in western Bohemia based on the agreements of the great powers and could not go any further. The soldiers of Marshal Ivan Koněv’s 1st Ukrainian Front arrived in Prague early in the morning on May 9, 1945. Although the Red Army men arrived in an almost free city, from where most of the German soldiers had already withdrawn after signing the surrender to the Czech National Council (ČNR), they still had to places to wage heavy battles with the last fanatical Nazis.

CR history memorial 1945 PHOTO OPENER