Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968
When: Thursday and Friday, 3-4 April, 2008
Where: Earl K. Long Library 407, The University of New Orleans
A UNO CenterAustria Ten Year Anniversary Conference in Cooperation with the Boltzmann Institute for War Consequences Graz, Austria
PROGRAM:
Thursday, April 3, 2008
- 9:00 – 9:30 am Official Welcome
Günter Bischof, Director, Center for Austrian Culture and Commerce, UNO (MC)
Timothy Ryan, Chancellor, The University of New Orleans
Kenneth Zezulka, Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Louisiana
Petr Kolář, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States
Peter Ruggenthaler, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut for Research on War Consequences, Graz
- 9:30 – 10:30 am Keynote Address
Chair: Günter Bischof, CenterAustria, The University of New Orleans
Mark Kramer, Harvard University
The Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion in Historical Perspective
- 10:30 – 11:00 am Coffee Break
Session I: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring
Chair: Andreas Pribersky, The University of New Orleans
Oldrich Tuma, Institute of Contemporary History, Prague
Reforms in the Communist Party: Prague Spring and Apprehension about a Soviet Invasion
Manfred Wilke, Institute of Contemporary History Munich-Berli
Ulbricht, East Germany and the Prague Spring
- 12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Break
- 2:00 – 4:30 am
Session II:
The Soviet Union and the Prague Spring
Chair: Jeffrey K. Wilson, The University of New Orleans
Vladislav Zubok, Temple University
Soviet Society in the 1960s
Michail Prozumenščikov. Russian State Archives for Contemporary History
Politburo Decision-Making on the Czechoslovak Crisis in 1968
Peter Ruggenthaler, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut for Research on War Consequences, Graz
“Normalizing” Relations: The Moscow Negotiations between the Soviet Leadership and the Czechoslovak Delegation after the Invasion
- 8:00 pm Conference Dinner
Friday April 4, 2008
- 9:00 – 12:00 pm
Session III:
The Great Powers and the Year of Crisis 1968
Chair: Allan Millett, Eisenhower Center, The University of New Orleans
Mark Carson, Tulane University
The Johnson Administration, the Vietnam War, and the South’s Response to the Vietnam War
Günter Bischof, The University of New Orleans
The Johnson Administration’s Reponse to the Czech Crisis of 1968
Saki Dockrill, Kings College, University of London
Great Britain and the Prague Spring
Alessandro Brogi, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
France, Italy the Western Communists, and the Prague Spring
- 12:30 – 2:30 pm Lunch Break
- 13:30 Public Reading (in German)
Chair: Inge Fink, The University of New Orleans
by Zdenka Becker from her novel Die Töchter der Róza Bukovská (Residenz Verlag 2006), writer in residence, Lafayette College
- 2:30 – 5:30 pm
Session IV:
European Neighbors during the Prague Spring
Chair: Peter Ruggenthaler, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences, Graz
Mikhail Prozumenšĉikov, Russian State Archives for Contemporary History
The Prague Spring and Its Consequences on Soviet – West German Relations
Csaba Bekes, Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Budapest
Hungary and the Prague Spring
Tvrtko Jakovina. University of Zagreb, Croatia
Tito, the Block Free Movement and the Prague Spring
Stefan Karner, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences, Graz
Austria and the Prague Spring
Conveners and Principal Sponsors:
- Günter Bischof, CenterAustria, College of Liberal Arts, The University of New Orleans
- Allan Millett, Eisenhower Center for American Studies, College Of Liberal Arts, The University of New Orleans
- Stefan Karner/Peter Ruggenthaler,. Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für Kriegsfolgen-Forschung [BIK], Graz
Additional Conference Sponsors:
- Division of International Education, Metropolitan College, UNO
- Austrian Cultural Forum, New York
- Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research