The march of university students, which took place on November 16th 1989 in Bratislava, is according to the chairman of Nation’s Memory Institute, Ondrej Krajňák, is important proof of the independent nature and the open-heartedness of the Slovak students.
“The need for change won the minds of these students. We should honour them for fearlessly opposing the mainstream in times, when they faced suspension from school, interrogation and even prison,” said Krajňák, highlighting the fact that joining the protest required courage. The students of Bratislava universities marched through the city the night before International Students' Day, November 17th, when students in Prague entered into a direct and violent conflict with state police. What began as a peaceful commemorative event turned into a violent one and it also became a turning point in the history of Czechoslovakia with the start of the Velvet Revolution, which lead to the fall of communist regime. As part of the commemorative events taking place in Slovakia at present, a monument for the victims of Iron Curtain was installed in Devínska Nová Ves, a borough of Bratislava. The location is very significant as many people tried to swim across the Morava River to get their freedom to Austria, and 42 names of individuals whom were not successful on their mission are inscribed on the memorial.
