- Condition: **
- Year: 2019
a hand with raised fingers symbolising victory. A ribbon with the three Czech national colours and a graphic depiction of the events of 17 November 1989 are placed at the bottom and in the background of the stamp, respectively. The miniature sheet also contains a portrait of Karel Kryl, standing and playing the guitar.
The poor economic performance in the 1980s necessitated the start of the process of rebuilding the economy. The hope that the rebuilding effort will be successful for Czechoslovakia was finally extinguished by the arrival of Miloš Jakeš as Secretary of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. The first major manifestations of dissatisfaction began in August 1988. Demonstrations continued until the end of the totalitarian regime. In January 1989, memorial demonstrations were held to commemorate Jan Palach’s self-immolation. However, the reaction of the communist regime prompted more people to further demonstrations. Water cannons and special intervention units were sent to the streets. Further demonstrations took place on 21 August and 28 October. The party leadership tried to implement hard counter-measures. November brought the news of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the news from Poland on the Solidarity election victory, and the news on the preparations for free elections in Hungary. Another demonstration in Prague was held on 17 November to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of Czech universities by the Nazis in 1939. The demonstrators headed out of Vyšehrad, where they remembered Jan Opletal, a Czech student shot dead by the Nazis during a demonstration in 1939, to the centre of Prague. At the time they reached Národní třída, they were attacked by the regular police armed forces and a regiment of the National Security Corps. The manner of the intervention outraged the public and started of a whole wave of protest actions across the country as a beginning of the so-called Velvet Revolution. On the night of18-19 November 1989, the Civic Forum was established as a political movement headed by Václav Havel. The Civic Forum announced a general strike on 27 November, demanding the punishment of those responsible for the police intervention against the demonstrators, the departure of communist politicians, and a guarantee of civil rights and freedoms. On 21 November, representatives of the Civic Forum met Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec. On November 29, the lower house of Czechoslovak Parliament abolished the fourth article of the Constitution, establishing the leading role of the Communist Party. On 7 December, the federal government led by Ladislav Adamce resigned. 3 days later, the so-called “government of national understanding,” led by Marián Čalfa, was established. President Gustáv Husák appointed the government of Marián Čalfa and abdicated the position of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic. Alexandr Dubček was elected the speaker of the lower house of Czechoslovak Parliament. Almost at the end of the year, on 29 December 1989, Václav Havel, a former dissident, representative of the Charter 77 protest movement, and the head of the Civic Forum, was elected as the President of the Czechoslovak Republic. The ceremony was held in the Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle.
Karel Kryl (1944 – 1994), known as the Poet with the Guitar, was a Czech songwriter and poet, one of the most prominent Czech protest songwriters between 1968 and 1989. He wrote his songs. His repertoire included both short hit songs and longer poetic and melancholy songs. His father and grandfather were book printers, but their family printing company was destroyed by the communists in the 1950s. Kryl’s first released song was The Blind Girl, which he recorded with The Bluesmen in 1968. His first album was released half a year after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviets. The title song Bratříčku zavírej vrátka (Keep the Gate Closed, Little Brother) was supposedly written as a spontaneous reaction to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops on the night of 22 August 1968. Karel Kryl emigrated from Czechoslovakia on 9 September 1969 and settled in Munich, Germany. He worked for Radio Free Europe, first externally, and from 1983 as an employee. Karel Kryl returned to Czechoslovakia in November 1989 to attend his mother’s funeral. On 27 November, around 250 thousand people gathered in Wenceslas Square in the afternoon, and up to 300 thousand later in the evening. Karel Kryl together with Karel Gott sung the national anthem. After a short period of enthusiasm related to the Velvet Revolution, Kryl released a critical song called The Velvet Spring in early 1990. As one of the few, he openly protested the possible disintegration of Czechoslovakia.
