St. Aidan's CBS | Archive | 2001 | Comenius

Famous People

He was born in Uhrovec on 27/11/1921,in the same house in which Ludovit Stur, another very important Slovak personality of the 19^th century, was born in 1815.

He learned the trade of a fitter. He worked as a petrol station attendant and later as a tool-man. He took part in the Slovack National Uprising in 1944, later he occupied various positions in Czechoslovak Communist party. In the years 1951-55 he was a deputy of national Assembly.Between 1952-1958 he studied law and humanities in Bratislava and in Moscow.

In 1963-1968 he was the first secretary of the Central Committee of Czechoslovak Communist Party and was also a member of parliament.

He belonged among reformed communities, who argued for changes in socialistic regime.Alexander Dubcek advocated freedom of expression, gathering and places for more open discussions about the economy.People could travel abroad and the flow of information from developed countries was opened to the public.

Prague spring:

In 1968, the leader of the Czechoslovak communist party, Alexander Dubcek began speaking of reforms.He wanted to give socialism a human face and loosen the control on censorship. The period of reform that blossomed from Dubcek's ideas came to be known as Prague Spring. Prague Spring naturally upset the leaders in Moscow. On June 27 there appeared in Literarni listy an article written by Ludvik Vaculik and signed by a large number of people representing all walks of life. The article called “Two Thousands Words”, was urging even more rapid progress to reel democracy.Dubcek remained convinced that he could control the transformation of Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union however began to take a different view. The Czechs and Slovaks failed to comprehend the hostility of the reaction of the two thousand words, particularly by the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany.Dubcek declined an in vitiation to participate in a special meeting of the Warsaw Pact powers, which on July 15 sent him a letter saying that his country was on the verge of counterrevolution and that they considered it their duty to protect it. To the last, Dubcek remained confident that he could talk himself out of any difficulties with his communist neighbours. He accepted an invitation by Brezhnev to a conference at Cierna-nad-Tisou (a small town in Slovakia), where the Soviet Politburo and the Czechoslovak leaders tried to resolve their differences. On August 3, representatives of the Soviet, East German, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Czechoslovak Communist Parties met in Bratislava. The statement issued after the meeting although loosely written gave impressions that pressure would be eased on Czechoslovakia, beginning a 20-year period of occupation and normalization. The Soviets insisted that loyal Czechoslovak Communists had invited them.A column of tanks flanked by thousands of troops marched through the streets of Prague and straight to Dubcek. The Soviet authorities seized Dubcek, Cernik and several other leaders and took them to Moscow but failed to produce alternative party and state leaders acceptable to the people.The invasion of Czechoslovakia became an infamous example of Soviet oppression. Communist parties in Western Europe, already shocked by the invasion of Hungry in 1956, now began too think twice about supporting the Soviets. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was planning on travelling to the Soviet Union in 1968, dropped his plan postponing by four years. The uneasy tension between the two super powers, the US and the USSR, placed a strain on both of the nations economies. Communications were disrupted, supplies were held up and the country was left almost leaderless, bet life went on as if the troops weren’t there. On August 23, President Svoboda, accompanied by Husak, left for Moscow to negotiate a solution. The negotiations were concluded on August27. Svoboda bringing with him Dubcek, Cernik and Smrkovsky returned to Prague to tell the Czechs and Slovaks what price they would have to pay for their Socialism with a human face. Soviet troops were going to stay in Czechoslovakia, and the leaders had agreed to tighter controls over political and cultural activities.

After the failure of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovak reformists tried to preserve at least some of the achievements of their reform efforts. One of these was the constitutional issue, which gave more autonomy to Slovakia. On October 28, 1968, the Czechoslovak National Assembly approved a new constructional law on the creation of a Czechoslovak Federation. President Svoboda signed it into law at Bratislava Castle on October 30, and it decreed that Czechoslovakia would be divided internally into two separate Czech and Slovak Republics. The federal setup took effect on January 1, 1969.

Dubcek was in a weak position. Gradually, his more progressive aides were removed, and in April 1969 he was demoted from first secretary of the party to president of the Federal Assembly (the national parliament). Husak, ‑ who promptly declared the Dubcek experiments to be finished and proposed a process that he called "normalization", rep/aced him. Husak's modest policy of normalization included the dual aim of ending political experiments and concentrating on economic progress. He patiently tried to persuade Soviet leaders that Czechoslovakia was an orthodox member of the Warsaw Pact. He had the constitution amended to embody the newly proclaimed principle of proletarian internationalism and in 1971 went as far as to repudiate the Prague Spring, declaring that "in 1968 socialism was in danger in Czechoslovakia, and the armed intervention helped to save it. " His most cherished aim was to turn the federal arrangements, which came into force on January 1, 1969, into a reality and then concentrate on economic issues. In fact, the implementation of federalism had helped him to get rid of many hard‑liners and rep/ace them with his own people. In 1970 OldrVich Cernik was finally forced to resign the premiership and was succeeded by Husak's Czech rival, Lubom Strougal. In 1975, when President Svoboda retired because of ill health, Husak once again fused the two most important offices in Czechoslovakia and became president himself, with full Soviet approval.

Turkey. After he was expelled from the party he had to find a new job. It was very difficult to find a good job, because the communists wanted to see him working under humiliating conditions and apart from the public life. They gave him a job in the forestry administration, located outside Bratislava.

In the years 1969‑1970 nearly 500,000 people were expelled from the party. They were forced to leave their old jobs and find a new profession.

On November 7,1989, as a part of the country's Velvet Revolution, he spoke at a rally in Bratislava and later stood on the balcony above the Wenceslav's square with the newly elected President Vaclav Havel while huge crowds cheered. DubcVek was elected chairman of the Federal Assembly on December 28, 1989, and re‑elected in 1990. By 1992 he had become the leader of Slovakia's Social Democrats.

On September 1, 1992 he sustained severe injuries in an automobile accident on the way to Prague. As a result of these injuries he died on November 7, 1992 at the age of 70.

Martina Moravcova

She was born on the 16^th of January, 1976 in The Slovak town of Piestany. It is known for its spas, which are a big tourist attraction. She was born two months premature and she was dangerously under-weight. She was placed in an incubator and nobody whether she would survive or not. But she did.

However she remained sick and weak until the age of three. Doctors tried to help her but could not. One day her mother took her to the public swimming pool and then she began to go regularly. By the age of six she was swimming four times a week, an hour each time.

At the age of ten she won her first medal, because she had to be ten to be allowed to enter any competitions. She won every race she entered, each win giving her more confidence and motivation.

When she was twelve, she won her first National title at the Chechoslovakian Nationals. At that age she swam a total of 25km per week. Then when she went to training camp, she swam 60km per week!!

Since the early ‘90’s she has become a permanent member of the Junior National Team.

In 1992 she went to the Olympic games in Barcelona. She didn’t win any thing, but it was a great experience for her.

From 1994 to 2000, she won 8 gold medals, 10 silver medals and 4 bronze medals and then at the World Championship, she won 4 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze

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