The programme was opened on November 14, 2024 by Mrs. Judit Gerencsér, Deputy Director General of the National Széchényi Library, and the Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Mrs. Eva Dvořáková. At the opening of the exhibition "Czech Publishing Houses in Exile", both emphasized the fundamental importance of the revolutionary events of 1989 as the beginning of the changes that brought about the restoration of democracy and human rights not only in Czechoslovakia but also in other countries of Central Europe. The exhibition, organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Josef Škvorecký's birth, traces the fate and activities of exile publishing houses and magazines, which, especially between 1948 and 1989, made it possible to publish and distribute the works of Czech and Slovak authors working in exile abroad, as well as authors in Czechoslovakia who could not publish freely at home. The exhibition, prepared by the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences, will be open to visitors of the National Library of Foreign Literature (Molnár utca 11, 1056 Budapest) until the end of 2024.

The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia was commemorated by the Czech Television documentary "What We Jingled the Keys For", in which the November 1989 events are recalled by the participants of those events, both publicly known personalities and those who were only in the spotlight for a few moments.

Two of the active participants - Mr György Varga, former correspondent of Radio Free Europe and later Hungarian ambassador in Prague, and Mr Karel Kühnl, editor of Radio Free Europe, later politician and diplomat and today director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic - discussed at the round table for more than an hour. The discussion between the two gentlemen, whose life paths have crossed several times since the 1980s, was moderated by Mr Robert Svoboda, a journalist and translator living in Budapest.

The Embassy congratulates Ambassador György Varga, who was awarded the Medal of Merit for Diplomacy by Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský just a few days later in recognition of his lifelong contribution and exceptional personal commitment to the development of Czech-Hungarian relations (link). Congratulations!