Slavnostní akt Rehabilitace letců RAF – 13.9.1991
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RAF Rehabilitation Ceremony, Palace of Culture, Prague 13.09.1991.
Slavnostní akt Rehabilitace, Palác kultury, Praha, 13.9.1991.
On 13 September 1991 a ceremony to ‘morally and politically rehabilitate the Czechoslovak men and women was held at the Palace of Culture, Prague. Rehabilitation awards for the suffering caused by the Communist regime and was the apology from the Czechoslovak government to them as well as promotional ranks in the Czechoslovak Air Force, for many of them, this ceremony had come too late and these awards were posthumous. In many of these cases, widows or descendants attended in their place to receive those awards.
Dne 13. září 1991 se v Paláci kultury v Praze konal Slavnostní akt „morální a politické rehabilitace československých mužů a žen”, kteří sloužili během 2. svět. války v řadách leteckých sil RAF. Rehabilitace měla formou ocenění zmírnit příkoří a utrpení, která jim způsobil komunistický režim a stejně tak omluva od československé vlády, vyjádřená udělením čestných hodností československého letectva. Pro mnohé z nich se však tato slavnost uskutečnila příliš pozdě a ocenění se jim dostalo in memoriam. V mnoha z těchto případů převzaly slavnostní ocenění jejich vdovy nebo rodinní příslušníci.
Many of the airmen had escaped from Czechoslovakia, to the West, after the Communist take-over in February 1948, for many this was the second time they had had to go into exile. Many of the airmen, or their relatives had travelled from around the world to attend this significant event – not just from the UK but also from New Zealand, USA, Canada as well. The overseas attendees were brought to Prague by three Czechoslovak Air Force aircraft, two from RAF Northolt and one from RAF Manston.
Řada letců uprchla z Československa na Západ po převzetí moci komunisty v únoru 1948, většina z nich tak musela podruhé hledat svobodu v exilu. Mnoho letců nebo jejich příbuzných přicestovalo z různých koutů světa, aby se této významné události mohli zúčastnit. Nejen z Velké Británie, ale také z Nového Zélandu, USA i Kanady. Zahraniční účastníky přepravily do Prahy tři letouny československého letectva, dva ze základny RAF Northolt a jeden z RAF Manston.
Program of the four day event :
Program jednotlivých dnů setkání :
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An amatuer video from one of the participants of that seven day event trip:
Amatérské video, pořízené jedním z účastníků tohoto sedmidenního výletu:
Free Czechoslovak Air Force 
Thank you for posting this. Two young man from town Lednicke Rovne (now Slovakia) also served in RAF. One of them was pilot ANTON VANKO(1918-1944), he died during air action and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in UK. Second one was mechanic & radio operator JOZEF REHAK (1916-1979). Unfortunately none of them experience the rehabilitation process. RIP my countryman! Thank you for your service!
Thank you for posting this. My Father Vaclav Robert Bozdech died in 1980. I know he would dearly loved to have been rehabilitated and to be reunited with the family he was never able to see following his escape from the communists.
Thank you for posting that. I do not remember knowing about that event at the time. My father had died seven years previous to this, but I’m sure he would have wanted to attend.
Too bad that airmen from 1968 are forgotten…they too were rehabilitated and for the Parliament and Government are written off.
[Moderators note: the remit for this project is for those Czechoslovak men and women who had served in the RAF during WW2, not for later periods.]
Thank you for posting this video. It brought tears to my eyes – I remember when my father Jaroslav Muzika, went to Prague to participate in the Rehabilitation Ceremony – and then our whole family could finally reunite in the country where I was born before we had to escape – again.
No rehabilitation can do enough justice to those persecuted by the communists…