Former Czech official on post-1989 changes at Czech-German Forum

Former Czech politician Pavel Bratinka pointed to the differences in the developments in the Czech Republic and the eastern part of Germany after the fall of communism, at the annual conference of the Czech-German Discussion Forum today.

The forum is attended by some 150 historians, journalists, political scientists and representatives of NGOs from Germany and the Czech Republic.

Bratinka, former member of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) and Charter 77 human rights platform signatory, said Federal Germany was a sort of "rescue net" for the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), while the citizens of then Czechoslovakia had to rely on themselves in creating transformation laws and in taking reform steps.

The uncertainties of the new developments provoked nostalgia in both countries even among the people who did not agree with the previous regime, Bratinka said.
He said in the former communist countries there is a well evident value gap between the "corrupt generation" that spent a greater part of their lives under communist rule, and the generations that do not almost know the totalitarian regime, but who are enthusiastic about new technologies.

Such differences in society can only be compared to the era of religious conflicts during Thirty ears war (1618-48), Bratinka said.
The conference focuses on changes of life style and identity after 1989 and on ethnic minorities and migration.

Unlike in the previous years the speakers concentrate less on the burden of the past and they rather speak about the future, which is important for young people.
Karel Holomek, chairman of the Romany Association in Moravia, sharply criticised the position of the Romany minority in the Czech Republic.

He said the Czech state had not implemented the law on compensation for the World War Two Romany victims. He said a mere 200 out of 7,000 applicants have received compensation.

"This can be called…an institutional denial of heh Holocaust," Holomek said.

He praised the Czech-German Fund for the Future for having complied with a majority of justified applications thanks to its own social fund.
Holomek came out against narrowing the Romany issue to its social aspects. He said "a culture of poverty" is spoken about in certain academic circles as if this were the only culture the Romanies have.

"This nonsence is even taught at one of our regional universities, namely in Plzen (west Bohemia)," he said.

The Czech-German Discussion Forum was founded in December 1997 on the basis of the Czech-German Declaration from January of the same year.
It is to maintain Czech-German dialogue. The forum is financed by the Czech-German Fund for the Future. The two countries take alternate in hosting the annual conferences.

The forum’s main body, the council, decided in reaction to an exchange of opinions on the content of the forum to re-establish working groups.

Senator Ludek Sefzig, chairman of the Czech-German Discussion Forum Council for the Czech part, told CTK that four teams would deal with the questions of minorities, workforce mobility, partnership between towns and subsidiarity.

Subsidiarity, together with European transport networks, is to be one of the main topics of next year’s annual conference that will be held in the Czech Republic.
The venue has not yet been chosen.