Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police - Exhibition Tour Continues in Europe and the United States

PRAGUE, October 23, 2009 – The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes’ signature exhibition, Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police, now touring in both Europe and the United States, will open in Sweden on Monday, October 26 at the Czech Center in Stockholm, where it will be on view through November 2. The unique exhibition features a selection of never-before seen photographs and films of “subjects of interest” taken secretly by servicemen of the Communist State Security Service’s Surveillance Directorate during the “normalization” era of hard-line socialist entrenchment after the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia.

Photographs from the Stockholm opening

Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Stockholm, 10/26/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Stockholm, 10/26/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Stockholm, 10/26/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Stockholm, 10/26/2009)

The exhibition will also open on November 15 in Boston, USA, in cooperation with the Cold War Studies Program and Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, to coincide with the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. The exhibition will be on view at Harvard‘s Center for Government and International Studies through December 22.

Earlier this month, from October 2-11, the exhibition was on view in Luxembourg at the Cinematheque movie theater and film archive, on the invitation of the Festival of Central European Film (Festival Du Film d´Europe Centrale). The exhibition opened to coincide with the launch of the film festival, with Consul Ivana Vaněčková of the Czech Embassy in Luxembourg, Consul Ewa Sufin-Jacquemart of the Polish Embassy in Luxembourg, Pavol Popisek, Secretary of the Slovak Embassy in Brussels, Marc Scheffen, Deputy Director of the Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg, Marcin Wierzbicki, Director of the Polska.lu association and Michal Hroza, director of the Institute’s publishing section in attendance. After the exhibition opening, visitors had the opportunity to view Dušan Hanák’s 1995 acclaimed documentary film Paper Heads, which depicts the period of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. The screening of the acclaimed film was attended by the director himself, who fielded questions from the audience in the discussion afterwards.

Photographs from the Luxembourg opening

Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009) Opening of the exhibition “Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police” (Luxembourg, 10/2/2009)