Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek's address at the memorial service at the "WE WILL NOT FORGET RUZYNĚ 1939-1941" monument on 17 November 2008

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,

Today we celebrate 17 November. We celebrate it as the day, in 1989, when the communist regime began to collapse. But we are also forgetting a bit what happened on 17 November 1939. We are forgetting unjustly. This anniversary inspired the student marches 50 years later. 17 November 1939 is not connected with hope, with the fall of totalitarianism. On the contrary, the fascist dictatorship grew in strength at the time, and this was its first expression of mass violence in our small country. The closing of universities, arrests and executions all foreshadowed the horror that was to follow. Even more so, 17 November 1939 is connected with heroism. It is connected with the mass resistance of unarmed citizens against a totalitarian power capable of anything. Just as Lidice has become a worldwide symbol of the suffering of a civilian population, the Czech Republic's 17 November has become a worldwide day of students.

There is a strong symbolism to it; 17 November 1939 and 17 November 1989 mark a half century of totalitarian regimes. The beginning and end of the time when freedom was absent. Students were there at both milestones. Students, who represent hope for the future. Today we must think about the future and learn from the past, so that it never returns. 17 November 1939 tells us that we need strong and reliable allies, otherwise our freedom is endangered. And 17 November 1989 reminds us that, thanks to those allies, we achieved that freedom again. Let us remember both dates, for both are just as meaningful and important to us. The powerlessness of 1939 and the hope of 1939 have a common denominator: The fight for freedom. A fight we must never give up, in good times or bad.

Thank you for your attention.