Similar to thousands of other Slovaks, incumbent President Andrej Kiska also took to the streets and jangled his keys during the Velvet Revolution in November 1989.
“As a young 27-year-old university graduate, I wished the change to be real and genuine. I'm quite happy that a lot of these dreams have come true,” Kiska reminisced about the beginning of democratic changes in the erstwhile Eastern Bloc. Along with counterparts from Visegrad Four countries (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), Kiska is taking part in the commemoration festivities at the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Leipzig, where he travelled at the invitation of German President Joachim Gauck. It was on October 9, 1989, when the so-called Monday Protest of some 70,000 people took place in Leipzig that made the leader of former German Democratic Republic Erich Honecker step down. “It was here, where the collapse of communism in Germany began 25 years ago. The mass protests and demonstrations also significantly encouraged us, those living in erstwhile Czechoslovakia, to muster courage and take to the streets as well,” said Kiska.
