Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

University of New Orleans
Thursday and Friday
3-4 April, 2008
Earl K. Long Library 407

A UNO CenterAustria Ten Year Anniversary Conference

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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-Berlin
Ulbricht, East Germany and the Prague Spring


12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Break

Session II: 2:00 – 4:30 am
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

Session III: 9:00 – 12:00 pm
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

Session IV: 2:30 – 5:30 pm
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