Today marks the 55th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact's invasion of Czechoslovakia. Since 2021, this date has been commemorated as the Day of the Victims of the Occupation of Czechoslovakia. The armies of the five Warsaw Pact countries (the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic and Poland) crossed the border and began their occupation of the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
On the very first day of the occupation, 20 people died or were fatally wounded in Slovakia. One day later, 16-year-old Peter Legner was among the victims, shot in front of the main post office on SNP Square in Bratislava. He died on the way to hospital. A plaque commemorating the young student still stands on the post office building. In total, the invasion claimed 37 victims in Slovakia. During the entire period of occupation until the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1991, 406 people died as a result of their presence on Czechoslovak territory.
Source: TASR
