Velvet Revolution
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Sixty-eight years hence. Never forget.
by Joanie Schirm on February 28, 2016 PermalinkSixty-eight years ago, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in a violent coup. At the time just after WWII, my parents were living in Long Island, NY in the hamlet of Sayville. Before the coup, they’d considered moving back to my dad’s Czech homeland where he wished to practice medicine. His interest in returning
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“Shout for Freedom”
by Joanie Schirm on November 20, 2014 Permalink“Shout for Freedom” A memory from the Velvet Revolution – Twenty-Five years ago – Czechoslovakia, November, 1989 I have a memory that embodies the emotions I felt when my dad’s native land, Czechoslovakia, recovered their freedom. After forty-one years of communist rule, in what is now known as the “Velvet Revolution,” a brave country shouted