Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

A UNO CenterAustria Ten Year Anniversary Conference with the Eisenhower Center for American Studies in Cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences Graz, Austria.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

9 – 9:30 am Official Welcome

• Günter Bischof, Director CenterAustria, (MC)
• Timothy Ryan, Chancellor, University of New Orleans
• Kenneth Zezulka, Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Louisiana
• Petr Kolář, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States
• Peter Ruggenthaler, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences, Graz

9:30 – 10:30 am Keynote Address

Chair: Günter Bischof, CenterAustria, University of New Orleans

• Mark Kramer, Harvard University The Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion in Historical Perspective

10:30 – 11 am Coffee Break

11 - 12:30 pm Session I

Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring

• Chair: Andreas Pribersky, University of New Orleans
• Oldrich Tuma, Institute of Contemporary History, Prague Reforms in the Communist Party: Prague Spring and Apprehension about a Soviet Invasion
• Manfred Wilke, Institute of Contemporary History, Munich-Berlin Ulbricht, East Germany and the Prague Spring

12:30 – 2 pm Lunch Break

2 – 4:30 pm Session II

The Soviet Union and the Prague Spring

• Chair: Jeffrey K. Wilson, University of New Orleans
• Vladislav Zubok, Temple University Soviet Society in the 1960s
• Mikhail Prozumenščikov, Russian State Archives for Contemporary History Politburo Decision-Making on the Czechoslovak Crisis in 1968
• Peter Ruggenthaler, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences, Graz “Normalizing” Relations: The Moscow Negotiations between the Soviet Leadership and the Czechoslovak Delegation after the Invasion

8 pm Conference Dinner

Friday, April 4, 2008

9 – 12 pm Session III

The Great Powers and the Year of Crisis 1968

• Chair: Allan Millett, Eisenhower Center, University of New Orleans
• Mark Carson, Tulane University The Johnson Administration, the Vietnam War, and the South’s Response to the Vietnam War
• Günter Bischof, University of New Orleans The Johnson Administration’s Response to the Czech Crisis of 1968
• Saki Dockrill, Kings College, University of London Great Britain and the Prague Spring
• Alessandro Brogi, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville France, Italy the Western Communists, and the Prague Spring

12:30 – 2:30 pm Lunch Break

13:30 Public Reading (in German)

• Chair: Inge Fink, UNO

• by Zdenka Becker from her novel Die Töchter der Róza Bukovská (Residenz Verlag 2006) writer in residence, Lafayette College

2:30 – 5:30 pm Session IV

European Neighbors during the Prague Spring

• Chair: Peter Ruggenthaler, Institute for Research on War Consequences, Graz
• Victor Ishchenko, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow The Prague Spring and Its Consequences on Soviet – West German Relations
• Csaba Bekes, Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Budapest Hungary and the Prague Spring
• Tvrtko Jakovina, University of Zagreb, Croatia Tito, the Block Free Movement and the Prague Spring
• Stefan Karner, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on War Consequences Graz Austria and the Prague Spring