Memory of Nations awards honour those who showed courage towards Eastern Bloc regimes

The annual Memory of Nations awards, which honour participants in the turning points of 20th century history, were handed out in the National Theatre in Prague this Sunday on the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. This year, most of the recepients were from the former Eastern Bloc countries that neighboured Czechoslovakia.

Hungarian political prisoner László Regéczy-Nagy, Polish Solidarity leader Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, German political prisoner Dietrich Koch, Slovak actress Dalma Špitzerová, and Czech Miroslav Hampl, who helped prisoners in uranium mines, all received the award - a silver medal depicting a lion.