Let’s not lose hope – photos by Ladislav Bielik in DPOH
It always makes sense to face difficult times head on. Even with an exposed chest. The DPOH is opening an exhibition of Ladislav Bielik’s photographs to remind its visitors and viewers of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. The violent military invasion led by the Soviet army halted the development of our country for decades, reversed democratisation reforms and destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants. Normalisation, persecution, censorship, political purges and fear took over society.
Bratislava was also the place where, on 21 August 1968, the tanks invaded to destroy freedom. Ladislav Bielik captured them in his famous photograph Man with exposed chest in front of an occupation tank.
The photograph, which became an icon of non-violent resistance and was included in the World Press Photo exhibition collection in 1968, shows a Bratislava man, Emil Gallo, standing in front of a tank on the morning of the first day of the occupation.
Thanks to foreign agencies and the media, the photograph went around the world, and with it the image of the invaded land. The original negative of the photograph from the day that fundamentally changed the direction of our country was hidden for many years. In December 1989, Ladislav Bielik’s son, Peter Bielik, discovered it, along with other negatives, in an old suitcase in the cellar.
On 21 August 2024, symbolically, on the day when we commemorate the beginning of the violent occupation of our country, a signed, original enlargement of the photograph Man with exposed chest in front of an occupation tank was placed in the premises of the DPOH.
Peter Bielik donated it to the theatre so that it could be publicly accessible to all. The photograph will be temporarily accompanied by an exhibition of 14 other photographs by Ladislav Bielik from the August 1968 series.
The exhibition can always be seen before and after the theatre performance in the Foyer on the first floor until 31 October.
