President Petr Pavel handed out 56 state awards on the anniversary of the establishment of the independent republic. He appreciated artists, athletes, but also dissidents, a train driver or a war veteran. “The biggest change on October 28 this year, compared to the predecessor Miloš Zeman, is the absence of deliberately controversial personalities among the awardees,” said historian Jakub Doležal from the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in an interview for iROZHLAS.cz.
Interview
Prague
18:31 October 29, 2024 Share on Facebook
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The President of the Republic awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk 3rd class to the signatory and spokesperson of Charter 77, Anna Šabatová | Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková | Source: iROZHLAS.cz
How would you summarize the differences in the awarding of state honors between Peter Paul and his predecessors? What is the biggest change?
If only Czech presidents are meant by those predecessors, not Czechoslovak presidents, it is essentially a similar handwriting and a more or less traditional line-up of bearers. Since 1995, important foreign personalities, politicians, war veterans, representatives of the second resistance, everyday heroes, representatives of dissent, churches, artists, athletes, scientists, businessmen, etc., have been honored every year, including personalities who supported the given president of the republic in the election campaign or they sympathize with him otherwise.
Presentation of awards through the lens of a photographer. See how it looked in the Vladislav Hall
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I think this is natural, and a public civic attitude in itself should not prevent a later award for societal merits. Each recipient must defend their award not only to themselves and the public, but also indirectly to those they have not yet received or will never receive. I think that all of this year’s bearers will definitely stand up, even though each of us will always be missing someone among the bearers or, on the contrary, dwell at any given moment.
The biggest change on October 28 this year, compared to the predecessor Miloš Zeman, is the absence of deliberately controversial personalities among the awardees and, above all, the speech of the President of the Republic, which did not contain insults and demarcations towards ideological opponents.
Powerful stories
What specifics, if any, did this year’s presentation of state honors have?
Quite a few personalities were awarded in memoriam, including the husband and wife of Jana Hlaváčová and Luďek Munzar, who could have become bearers earlier and it is a great pity that they did not experience the applause of the packed Vladislav Hall. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky.
The story of Karel Kučera, a soldier of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, who gave his life in the battles near Bakhmut, is specific and extremely powerful. The presentation of the Medal for Heroism to his mother, who was struggling with her emotions, was, in my opinion, the strongest moment of the entire evening, and Karl Kučer and his family rightly received probably the longest round of applause and sincere recognition, which of course will never compensate for the loss of a son and a young life.
State awards: Hilgertová, Janda and Šabatová received the award from the president
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Among the awardees we can also find a number of representatives of the non-profit or charity sector. I was personally very happy to receive the award of the Roman Catholic priest Josef Suchár and the whole admirable story of rebuilding the Neratov pilgrimage site in the Eagle Mountains, where all visitors rightfully find inspiration, regardless of religious or other beliefs. The environment of the former German settlement and the nearby Czechoslovak fortifications is a wonderful genius loci of our history.
Honoring journalists
Do you think Pavlo’s decisions to honor journalists indicate a shift in the approach to the media? How did his predecessors approach them?
This is a bit of an instructive question, because we all remember very well the attitude of the former president Miloš Zeman towards the media, including the would-be humorous and extremely inappropriate statements about the liquidation of journalists right in front of Vladimir Putin… However, Miloš Zeman was also able, despite the differences in values, to appreciate some important personalities , namely the journalist Petr Nováček.
Perhaps this year there were more journalists, writers and representatives of the media among the awardees, for example at the expense of the scientific community or entrepreneurs, but it is possible to see in this a certain repayment of the debt and above all a signal to the public that without public media and independent journalists our democracy would undoubtedly look different and she was much weaker and more vulnerable.
And this moment was probably the strongest for me.
The president, who is hated mainly by communists, fascists, and Nazis, not because he was in the party for a while, but because he is a pro-Western democrat, presents an award to the signatory and spokeswoman of the Charter, Mrs. Anna Šabatová.❤️ pic.twitter.com/US9gaJiUyL— Barbora Mercury ✌️ (@MercuryBarbora) October 28, 2024
Petr Pavel awarded state honors to Charter 77 signatory Daniel Kroup and Charter 77 spokesperson Anna Šabatová. How do you perceive the symbolism of awarding honors to people who were active in dissent in the past, signed Charter 77 by someone who was a member of the Communist Party?
The answer to this question belongs rather to the representatives of Charter 77 and the mentioned personalities. If they don’t mind and accept the award respectfully, I wouldn’t look for unnecessary controversy in it. From my point of view, it is always necessary to choose an individual approach and to evaluate a specific human story, both for the awardees and for the President of the Republic.
Specifically, Petr Pavel spoke about his past during the election campaign, and the result clearly showed that for the public, his current anchoring of values is key, which, in my opinion, President Petr Pavel unequivocally demonstrates with his actions.
After all, no one else with a real chance of winning the elections and perhaps even a more perfect “personnel” profile for the office of the President of the Republic had the courage to go to the market with his skin and devote five years of his life to further service to our state.
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