TWENTY-FIVE years after the remarkable events of November 17, 1989, the knowledge about what actually happened is not perfect even in the Slovak Parliament, where two of six deputies approached by the SITA newswire were able to answer two questions related to November 1989. The deputies were asked what happened on November 16, 1989 in Bratislava and when approximately the first free parliamentary elections took place after the Velvet Revolution. While four answered correctly the first question, only two gave an accurate answer to the second one.
“Students of Bratislava’s universities demonstrated in front of the Education Ministry and marched through the city,” Július Brocka from the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) said when answering correctly the first question. “They were earlier than those in Prague.”
Ľudovít Kaník from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) recalled that Slovak Television brought a shot from the students’ march in its news programme. Miroslav Kadúc from the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and Lucia Nicholsonová from Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) answered the question correctly, too. Árpád Érsek from Most-Híd said that “certainly there was some protest event”. Jaroslav Baška from Smer did not recollect the march.
Only Brocka and Kaník answered the second question correctly, saying that the election took place in June 1990.
