Poles and Czechs
across generations
The year 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of Charter 77, one of
the key documents issued by the Czechoslovak democratic opposition during the
communist period. Its publication had a watershed effect on Polish-Czechoslo-
vak relations since the document was also signed by representatives of the Polish
Solidarność. Among the Charter’s signatories were members of the Polish-Czech-
oslovak Solidarity, an organisation that was established in the early 1980s.
In this special section prepared for New Eastern Europe we show our readers
the impact of Charter 77 on Polish-Czech relations, a fact which is less discussed
today, and show the long-term impact the Charter and the movement has had on
the choices made by subsequent generations.
We encourage you to discover the different layers of Polish-Czech relations
through the writings of the three generations of authors, which we label: “Genera-
tion 77”, “Generation 87” and “Generation 97”.
This section is co-financed with a grant from the Polish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of the grant
programme titled “Polish-Czech Forum 2017”.Photo Jacek Halicki (CC) commons.wikimedia.org