country launched a tirade of
anti-Zionist propaganda that
has only now been curtailed.
Jews said open affiliation
killed off job advancement,
kept their children out of
universities. The final insult
came when Dezider Galski,
president of the Czech Jewish
communities was told by the
Ministry of Culture not to re-
apply for his job in 1985, and
two apparats, Bohumil Heller
and Frantisek Krause, were
placed in his stead. 'Their
years at the helm would seem
comical had they not tried to
ruin so many lives and
careers.
What had been a divided
community before became a
microcosm of the rest of
Czechoslovak society. Ever
since the crushing of the
Prague Spring of '68 and the
subsequent sacking of those
who supported Alexander
Dubcek, careerists and party
yes men were installed at all
levels. Czechs went into what
they called "internal exile,"
and, not ironically, became
the largest owners of vacation
homes in East Europe.
But while they evacuated
their cities and jobs in all but
the physical sense, these past
few years have seen a flower-
ing of samizdat (underground)
culture in the form of well
over 100 newspapers, quarter-
lies and magazines (covering
everything from rock and roll
to boy scouting), proving how
tired they were of swimming

A demonstrator waves a Czech flag at the rally in Wenceslas Square.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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