Why are Czech Army Gripen aircraft flying over the Baltic States? Which Czech statesman supported the Baltics on the road to independence? A new exhibition on Náměstí Svobody aims to educate the public about the 100-year history of cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Baltic states, from 3 to 17 May. Photo credit: Z. Obalilova, Brno City Municipality
Brno, May 3 (BD) – Twelve exhibition panels on Náměstí Svobody will inform the Brno public about the Baltic states and the history of Czech cooperation with their people, including economic relations, cultural ties, and tourism. There will also be a short linguistic introduction, explaining the origin of the hooks in Lithuanian and Latvian. The exhibition is organized by the Embassies of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in the Czech Republic.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”564″ gal_title=”Czech-Baltic Century-2″]Czechoslovakia recognized the creation of the so-called Baltic States in December 1921. Since then, there has been a history of friendly cooperation between Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Czechoslovakia, later the Czech Republic. The exhibition will cover the turbulent history of the past century in these states, in many ways similar to the Czech experience. Photo credit: Z. Obalilova, Brno City Municipality.
Like Czechoslovakia, the Baltic states became independent after World War I, but after occupation by Germany during World War II, they were occupied again by the Soviet Union from 1944. As in Czechoslovakia, revolutions took place in the Baltics at the end of the 1980s, specifically the non-violent “singing revolutions” – one famous action was the Baltic Road human chain, which was more than 600 km long, involved 1.5 million people and connected the capitals of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. In the 1990s, cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Baltic nations was renewed and intensified through the establishment of diplomatic relations. The year 2004 was another turning point, when all the Baltic states and the Czech Republic joined the European Union together, further strengthening ties.
