Invitation to the debate: Romas Kalanta and other living torches in the USSR (18 May 2022)

Fifty years ago, on 14 May 1972, Romas Kalanta set himself on fire in Kaunas, Lithuania, in protest against the Russification and Soviet occupation of Lithuania. His act sparked several days of street protests in Kaunas, which were violently repressed. The events of that time have gone down in history as the Kaunas Spring and Kalanta is still referred to as the Lithuanian Palach. However, there were more similarly desperate protests in the USSR. Robert van Voren, professor of political science and director of the Andrei Sakharov Research Center in Kaunas, and Roman Laube, who has long been a scholar of the history of alternative movements in the former Eastern Bloc, will discuss the half-century-old events in Lithuania, as well as live marches elsewhere in the Soviet Union. The opening speech will be given by the Lithuanian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Laimonas Talat-Kelpša. Moderator: Petr Blažek.

We cordially invite you to the Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 1, on Wednesday, 18 May at 19:00.

Free admission.