Monument To Soviet Tank Crews - Controversy and The Artistic Response

Controversy and The Artistic Response

After the 1989 Velvet revolution and the abolition of censorship, the legacy of the tank was openly discussed. The major force that saved the Prague uprising was the Russian Liberation Army led by Andrey Vlasov. Vlasov's soldiers captured the Ruzyně airport, where German Me 262 jets were deployed, and took the left bank of the Vltava including Smíchov. On May 9, the only aim of Wehrmacht military leaders was to get safely to the American occupation zone. For many citizens, the tank symbolised the Soviet invasion that ended the Prague Spring in 1968 and the following permanent deployment of Soviet military units, rather than the events in World War II—a popular local legend was that the number 23 painted on the tank's turret foresaw the Soviet invasion (1945 + 23 = 1968). In February 1991, historian Pavel Bělina noted that there were "neither moral nor historical grounds" for preserving the monument.

On the night from 27 to 28 April 1991, art student David Černý with his friends painted the tank pink and erected a huge finger in an obscene gesture on its turret roof, signing their work "David Černý and the Neostunners". Černý was arrested under an often-abused law concerning "public disturbances", and after an official protest by the Russian government, the tank was re-painted green. However, fifteen members of the newly elected parliament took advantage of their official immunity and re-painted the tank pink in protest against the arrest. The national monument status was abolished, Černý was released, and the tank removed. The tank is currently located in Military museum Lešany by Týnec nad Sázavou.

Černý, who finished his studies and became an enfant terrible of Czech visual art, later proposed a new statue, a pink tank digging into the ground. Following a fierce opposition from Prime Minister Miloš Zeman and Russian Ambassador Vasil Yakovlev, the municipality representatives abolished the project. The statue was finally installed in the spa resort Lázně Bohdaneč, where the occupying Soviet army was deployed until the early 1990s (located at 50°4′9.426″N 15°40′58.421″E / 50.069285°N 15.68289472°E / 50.069285; 15.68289472).

On 17 October 2002, a fountain "Propadliště času" was installed on the spot. The spurting water should have purified everything and let the people forget. However, the people did not forget. In 2004, a CowParade was held in Prague. One of the fiberglass cows was painted khaki and provided with five-pointed red stars and white numbers 23 on both flanks, with the intention to paint it publicly pink later on. The cow was vandalised, and the happening did not take place.

On 8 May 2005, when the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War was celebrated, Communist party leader Miroslav Grebeníček organised a gathering there. His supporters, mostly pensioners, put lilacs on the spot of the former monument and sang "The Internationale".

On 21 August 2008, the pink hull of a tank by David Černý was illegally installed on the spot. It has a white invasion stripe, the same as Soviet tanks that entered Czechoslovakia in 1968. According to Černý, the statue should draw attention to contemporary politics of Russia.

On 20 June 2011 the pink tank was temporarily returned to Prague to celebrate the 20th anniversary of withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces. It included the erected forefinger and was placed on a barge on the Vltava river.

The piece, as modified by David Černý, will be displayed on a river barge, by Charles Bridge, until 1 July 2012 within the Week of Freedom festival commemorating the departure of Soviet troops from the country.