Front Row Seat To The Revolution 

Pavel Pechacek was the director of RFE/RL’s Munich-based Czechoslovak service at the time of the Velvet Revolution. In November 1989 he was unexpectedly granted a visa for Czechoslovakia, allowing him to travel Prague where he reported live from the demonstrations in Wenceslas Square. We sat down to speak with him about the events 20 years ago.

---

How do you remember the days in 1989 leading up to the November demonstrations?

Pavel Pechacek: I had traveled from Munich [where RFE/RL was headquartered until 1995] to Rome to cover the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia on November 12. More than 10,000 Czech and Slovak Catholics had traveled there from Czechoslovakia for the event.

You know, there had been an old prophecy for centuries that good things would happen to the Czech nation once Agnes would be canonized. And there was a feeling in the air that Czechs and Slovaks were losing their fear. They seemed to have built up courage to do something against the totalitarian regime.

Of course I did not predict that change was so close. But a couple of days later the Velvet Revolution began, and 10 or 12 days later Communism was over. Incredible, really.

And then you traveled to Prague…

PP: After I returned from Rome, I decided to apply for a visa to go to Prague. Nobody from Radio Free Europe (RFE) had ever been granted a visa before. To my great surprise, just a day after the student protests were violently broken up on November 17, I got a call from the Czech embassy that my visa was ready!

I arrived in Prague on Tuesday, November 21 and checked in at the Hotel Evropa. When the hotel staff realized who I was, they went out of their way to be helpful and supportive. “Of course we’ll give you a room with a window to Wenceslas square. And hurry up, the demonstrations will begin soon!”

Why do you think you got a visa at such a critical time?

PP: A young Czech historian recently gave me a book, written by a former high-ranking agent of the Czechoslovak security service. He writes that the authorities were of course very nervous because of the events of November 17. But they also thought that my reports could do little harm and would mostly go out to the West and other countries who got the news through agencies like Reuters and other news organizations anyway.

A fateful decision…

Frantisek Starek, a political prisoner at the time, later said that when he heard that Pavel Pechacek was reporting live from Wenceslas Square, he turned to his fellow inmates and said, “Guys, Communism is over, we’ll be home for Christmas.”

PP: They underestimated the effect my reports could have in Czechoslovakia. After all, for a few days I turned out to be the only reporter who was fully and openly covering the demonstrations in the Czech language for a Czech audience. And RFE’s reports could be heard all over the country and had a tremendous effect.

Frantisek Starek, a political prisoner at the time, later said that when he heard that Pavel Pechacek was reporting live from Wenceslas Square, he turned to his fellow inmates and said, “Guys, Communism is over, we’ll be home for Christmas.”

The Communist party started spreading rumours that I was leading the revolution from behind a computer in Wenceslas square. It was nonsense, and of course I had no computer in those days. It was just myself and two dissidents helping me with the reporting. Luckily, the authorities realized too late that they had made a terrible mistake in allowing me to enter the country!

Some people say Radio Free Europe’s reports provoked the protests...

PP: Like today, RFE had very strict editorial guidelines at the time, and we stuck to them. I told my editors very clearly: inform, inform, inform. Do not let your emotions take over, stick to the facts, the people will decide themselves what to do.

The most controversial case is of course the report about the alleged death of Martin Šmid. This report had a tremendous effect on the people and the dynamics of the protests, but it turned out to be false. But people like Timothy Garton Ash are wrong when he says that it was RFE who spread what turned out to be false news about the student’s death.

I remember holding the news item back while other outlets such as Reuters and Voice of America were already reporting it. We knew the report had come from a news agency run by Peter Uhl, a well-respected Czech dissident. But we had no second source, so I did not let the report go out. We tried to confirm the news and called hospitals and the police in Prague, but nobody wanted to really speak about it.

Later in the day I decided that we would also report on it. Then, of course, a few hours later we realized that this was wrong. Martin Šmid was alive and well.

We will probably never know what happened exactly. Nobody knows for sure whether someone was killed or disappeared during those demonstrations. But the story that turned out to be so important was wrong.



Did you see any of this coming?

PP: I remember saying to a colleague at the VOA – where I was working for the Czechoslovak desk at the time - in 1985 or 86: “Miro, this service is running so well, I'll have nothing new to do here until my death.” I didn’t believe then that Communism could be over in my lifetime. On the contrary, because of events in Latin America, Nicaragua, etc, we expected Communism might spread further.

When I was hired by RFE at the beginning of 1989, change was already in the air. And in the summer of 1989 there were clear signs of increased dissident activity in the country. But nobody knew what form change might take. We feared it could be violent and bloody. As tensions increased in November, we urged our listeners to remain calm and to avoid resorting to violence in their protests. Vaclav Havel also supported this message on our programs.

The real turning point was when Czechoslovak police used severe violence against students during the November protest. This brought both the students and their parents out to the streets. They had seen that the terror was here to stay and would continue.

How long did you stay in Prague that November?

PP: I reported for 3 days, from Tuesday to Thursday – November 21 to 22. On Friday the 23rd the secret police were waiting for me, expelled me from the country, and I had to leave the same day.

Then, even before I got to the border, I heard on the radio that the Communist party presidium had resigned. So I was still on Czech soil and Communism was over. It was unbelievable.

---

Pavel Pechacek served as director of RFE's Czechoslovak (and later Czech) Service from 1989 until 2001. He led the Czechoslovak section of the Voice of America from 1975 to 1989 after a previous stint with RFE as a broadcaster from 1968-1974. He is presently a senior adviser at RFE/RL.

--Julian Knapp

Unraveling the Šmid death story 

Timothy Garton Ash, reviewing several books on 1989 for the New York Review of Books, wrote that "An erroneous report on Radio Free Europe (RFE) that a student called Martin Šmid had been killed, in the suppression of the November 17, 1989, student demonstration in Prague, helped to swell the protesting crowds in the first days of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia."

Michael Nelson, veteran Reuters correspondent and executive, recounting the background to the story in his book, War of the Black Heavens (Syracuse University Press, 1997, pp. 184-186), concluded that the report on RFE and VOA "started a sequence of events that eventually brought down the communist government."

 

What happened?

RFE research reported the following on November 17:

 

Heard on the Iraqi airwaves... 

No stickies allowed! Iraqi authorities "ban" adhesive campaign advertising in Iraq

The independent electoral commission in Iraq has issued a directive banning any posters, candidate portraits, or electioneering materials with adhesive backing that can be plastered on walls and blast barriers -- a tactic that has been commonplace in previous election campaigns in Iraq.

The authorities explained that some exceptions would be made, however: "Cloth ads hung from strings are allowed, so that they can be taken down easily afterward."

The commission is promising to impose heavy fines on any offending factions and candidates -- but some candidates and citizens who spoke to RFI were skeptical that the new restrictions would be enforced, as there are more than 300 entities registered to contest the January elections. "Many of them have already spent millions on advertising materials," one said. "They can hardly be expected to confine their use to the officially designated advertising space."

When it comes to nuclear energy in Iraq, al-haajet umm al-ikhtira'a (invention is the mother of necessity)

Although this story [Arabic link] has received very little attention in the English-language media (aside from this article in the Guardian), Iraq has announced progress in its quest to develop a "peaceful nuclear program" in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The head of the National Iraqi Committee for Atomic Energy, Fu'ad Al-Musawi, added that the program will be centered on the use of atomic power for "water purification projects, agriculture, pharmaceutical production, and [radiation] treatments for various cancers."

Iraq faces many restrictions on the development of nuclear capabilities under a variety of UN sanctions, which also stipulate that Iraq must dismantle all of its existing nuclear facilities in cooperation with the IAEA -- a process that Musawi says is nearly complete.

Since these restrictions also effectively bar Iraq from developing nuclear technology that is essential for medical and economic purposes, the Iraqi authorities have been working with IAEA officials on creative ways to work around these sanctions. The details about exactly what form such a proposal would take haven't been worked out yet, but the process is moving forward, according to officials.

Jinan Al-Ubeidi, head of the Committee on Health and Environment in the Iraqi National Assembly, said that he was confident that a peaceful nuclear program would help alleviate the shortage of available cancer treatments in Iraq. "Most cancer patients are forced to wait in long lines for radiology treatments, and the situation is getting worse...many die before they can receive proper treatment," he said.

A member of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, Mithal Al-Alusi, said the Iraqi government must accelerate development of Iraq's peaceful nuclear capabilities, and claimed that it "would not raise the ire of neighboring parties or states" (a reference to Iran). "We ask only to possess [research] reactors which could not be used for anything other than peaceful purposes. I believe we have been very clear since that outset that our proposal will strengthen peace and security in the region," he said.

Controversy surrounds the role of Iraqi tribes in upcoming elections

RFI reports [Arabic link] that some political factions in Iraq have sought to incorporate tribes and their leaders within the coalitions participating in the elections expected to be held at the beginning of next year. Sheikhs from various tribes interviewed by RFI claimed that tribes played an important role at this "critical stage" in Iraqi politics, and could assist in the political process by helping identify capable and qualified individuals from their tribes to serve in government. "Iraqi tribes enjoy the respect of the people because they're able to decide who among their members is most qualified and impartial, to assist with rebuilding the country and contributing to the effective administration of the government," said Sheikh Abd al-Abbas al-Sa'adi.

Abd Faisal al-Sahlani disagrees, arguing against a bigger role for Iraqi tribes in the upcoming elections and saying that it would affect the orientation of the new parliament along sectarian lines, just as Iraq was "on the verge of another kind of shift towards entry into the modern civilizations of the world." In his opinion, Iraq should "forget the eras of degradation under the domination of tribal, bedouin, and backwards mindsets."

--Alex Mayer

"The Pigeon Who Crashed the Iron Curtain" 

How carrier pigeon Lena became an honorary U.S. "citizen"

In 1954, a carrier pigeon named Lena was participating in a race between two German towns. While flying from Nuremberg to her home loft in a West German village, Lena got lost and ended up landing in the town of Pilsen in communist Czechoslovakia, where she was discovered by a Czech pigeon enthusiast. The unnamed man recognized Lena's German leg band and decided to send his own message - to Radio Free Europe (RFE) in Munich:

The message was signed "Unbowed Pilsen."

Two days later, Lena arrived in Munich. Although she placed last in the race, the message she carried from behind the Iron Curtain made her an instant celebrity as her story was immediately broadcast into Eastern Europe by RFE.



Lena was then flown, "in an air-conditioned airliner," to New York, where she was given "the red carpet treatment usually reserved for visiting statesmen," according to the New York Times.

Upon her arrival at New York's International Airport, the paper reported that Lena was met by "Coos and Kudos" - adding that the ceremony was also attended by 1,000 pigeons released in her honor by American pigeon fanciers, including four "hero pigeons" who flew missions during World War II. A copy of the message Lena carried to Munich was also flown (by carrier pigeon) to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.



Known as "The Pigeon Who Crashed the Iron Curtain," or simply "Leaping Lena," her celebrity status resulted in Lena's selection as the model for the emblem of the 1955 Crusade for Freedom campaign. A few weeks after her arrival in New York, Lena became an honorary "citizen" of the United States after completing her "physical examination" (a three-week quarantine at a USDA animal center in New Jersey). She was finally transferred to the US Army Signal Corps pigeon breeding and training center, where she finished her career.

--Alex Mayer