A Shrapnel is Not a Souvenir

When the first tanks of the Warsaw Pact came to Liberec on August 21, 1968, Stanislav Hnělička, a retired colonel and a world hero from the Second World War, did not hesitate to contact his comrade-in-arms, Mládek. Together they went from Liberec to Prague. The two men left the car in Vysočany and hurried to the building of the Czechoslovak radio. In that moment, there were already six Soviet tanks in front of the building, and the Prague citizens were in a heated debate with its garrison. The situation changed when one of the tanks hit the barricade and started to burn. In the enraged crowd, Stanislav Hněličku used his experience from the war: “The shrapnels from the burning tank flew through the air and these shocked people wanted to collect them. Maybe these people wanted to take it as a souvenir. I yelled at them: ‛Do not touch it; it is hot! Look what it does with your shoes!’” The clash of the citizens of Prague and the soldiers claimed several casualties. Finally the building of the radio was occupied by the Soviets.