Czech society today is divided into two large groups - pro-Western and pro-Russian, and young people are increasingly joining the latter.
The head of the administrative district of the Czech capital Prague 6, Ondrej Kolář, where the monument to the Soviet commander Ivan Konev was demolished, said this in an interview with the Ukrainian Week magazine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The Prague politician admitted that in Czech society the dismantling of the monument did not receive unequivocal support.
“I would say that Czech society is divided into two groups: the one that experiences nostalgia and portrays Russia as the savior of the degraded and vicious Western world. These people love President Zeman and vote for nationalists, communists or populists. At the same time, another group leans towards the West, sees our future in the EU and does not confuse true love for one’s homeland with false nationalism, bordering on manifestations of Nazism. Some see this as a generational conflict, but now many young people are turning to the east and vice versa,” says Kolář.
“Groups that don’t like the fact that we removed the monument, those protesting against such a move are still trying to convince others that we did something illegal, using the same rhetoric as Russian officials. All these people and groups are associated with Russia: the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, and various military clubs, individuals and politicians who share pro-Russian thoughts,” the official claims.
The publication also asked how the Czechs feel about the Vlasovites and the ROA, whose monument recently installed in Prague.
“To be honest, Czechs are only now beginning to learn who these soldiers were and what role they played in the Second World War and in particular at the end of the war in Prague. The people here are deformed by 40 years of communist propaganda that glorified the Red Army. It is not that the Red Army did not play a fundamental role in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, but it did not liberate Prague.
However, it is a shame that we were unable to change this sad history after the Velvet Revolution, and we are discussing historical facts now, 30 years after the fall of communism,” the politician laments.
As PolitNavigator reported, Czech journalists conducted their own investigation, during which it was established, who was behind the demolition of the monument to Konev and how the roles were distributed in this vile matter.
Read also: In Moscow took revenge on the Czech Republic for the demolition of the monument Marshal Konev.