Bratislava, November 11, 2021. Marek Sobola, founder of the international project Tree of Peace, at the invitation of Mr. Ivan Korčok, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, attended the Commemorative Event on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Alexander Dubcek’s birth.
Former President of the Republic of Austria, His Excellency Heinz Fischer and President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Pavel Rychetský spoke at the event, which was opened by the head of Slovak diplomacy Ivan Korčok. “Alexander Dubček was an important figure in the post-war history of Europe and remains the most famous Slovak politician in the world. It is no coincidence that he was the second winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded by the European Parliament. Alexander Dubček gave hope, represented humanism and did a lot for human rights even in the period of normalization. This is an important link for today as well. Promoting faith, hope and decency in today’s politics is sometimes perceived as a weakness, and politics suffers from this today as well. This is also one of the reasons why we wanted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of this politician today,”said Ivan Korčok on this occasion.
Prominent European politicians Romano Prodi, Martin Schulz and Professor Guido Gambetta from the University of Bologna also mentioned Alexander Dubček through video interviews. Mikhail Gorbachev also sent a greeting letter highlighting Alexander Dubček’s political legacy.
Alexander Dubček (* November 27, 1921, Uhrovec – † November 7, 1992, Prague) was a Czech-Slovak communist politician, and a top representative of the Prague Spring. In honour and memory of Alexander Dubček, one of the Trees of Peace was also planted in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
