Ruszkik, haza!
Russians, go home!

Additions to the Memory of the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Its Impact on the Everyday Life of Hungarians in Slovakia

Author(s): Ilona, L. Juhász
Subject(s): Oral history, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Fórum Kisebbségkutató Intézet
Keywords: local memory; oral history; 1968; Soviet occupation; Slovakia; Hungarian minority
Summary/Abstract: This book summarises the results of a research undertaken by the Centre for Ethnology of the Forum Minority Research Institute in Komárno. The research work assisted by external collaborators, was carried out in selected Hungarian-populated municipalities in Southern Slovakia. The research was not designed to exactly reconstruct the events of the 1968 invasion, but to examine what local memory has preserved at the micro level about the Soviet occupation. How did the informants experience the events of that time as eyewitnesses, and what memory have people born later kept of the stories they heard from their parents or others. With a few exceptions, no hostile comments were made about the invading Soviet army. In general, it can be said that many of them relieved the Soviet soldiers of responsibility because, in their opinion, they had followed orders and could do nothing against it, they had to come here. Informants viewed in positive terms that the Soviet soldiers helped unified agricultural cooperatives with agricultural work and in other areas as well, and last but not least, “we could bargain with them,” they had cheap access to fuel, various technical items etc. In summary, the vast majority of informants do not see the 1968 invasion as a tragic event, they are much more preoccupied with today’s real problems (or those considered real due to media influence) such as migration or unemployment. Many feel somewhat nostalgic about the period following 1968 when life was better, and they claim they were not bothered by the Soviets. The memory of informants has been influenced by many things over time, especially newspapers, television, and radio, which may have significantly influenced and modified personal stories over the past decades.

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