Dissent and international contacts – Sněžka

Fact of the Czech figure „Velvet revolution – 1989”

Part of the „Dreaming about the democracy” topic

The Czech-Polish border crosses the Krkonoše Mountains, including Sněžka, the highest peak in Czechia. This place, still popular with tourists today, bears the legacy of cooperation and mutual aid between members of the Czechoslovak and Polish dissent in the 1980s.

The border mountains were used by members of the Polish Solidarność to contact Czech dissidents. The purpose of the meetings was to pass on information and, above all, to exchange banned literature and leaflets. According to the memories of witnesses, books, posters and equipment for printing samizdat were carried by so-called couriers, usually individuals or pairs. Pre-arranged transfers took place only a few times a year and in great secrecy because of the border patrols and the threat of heavy prison sentences.

In addition to the smuggling of materials, the Czech and Polish dissidents also organised joint annual meetings in the Krkonoše Mountains, on Borůvka Mountain in the Rychleby Mountains, in the Jeseníky Mountains or in the Slovak Tatra Mountains, at which they wrote joint statements that were leaked to the Western media. Despite the closely guarded borders, the cooperation between Czechoslovak and Polish dissent holds a unique place of courage and mutual help in Czech memory.