Pink tanks

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The "Pink Tank" in the Lešany Military Technical Museum (2012)

The Pink Panzer ( Czech Růžový tank ) is a Soviet tank type IS-2 , which from 1945 to 1991 as a memorial in Prague district Smíchov stood. The monument with the official name památník sovětských tankistů (Monument to Soviet Tank Soldiers) commemorated the arrival of the Red Army on May 9, 1945 in Prague . The tank was also called Tank číslo 23 or Smíchovský tank (Smíchov tank) after the number on its turret . According to the official propaganda it was the first tank to roll into Prague in May 1945, which was actually not the case.

He was nicknamed "Pink Tank" in April 1991. In a nightly action, the then student at the Prague Art Academy, David Černý , and a few friends painted the tank pink , thereby sparking not only heated public discussions, but also a sharp protest from the Soviet government. David Černý was briefly arrested for causing public nuisance . In June 1991 the pink tank was removed from the square and has since been in the Lešany Military Technical Museum .

In the summer of 2011 the Pink Tank returned to Prague for a short time and was exhibited on a floating pontoon on the Vltava . It was the logo of the "Freedom Week", an event to mark the twentieth anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet occupation troops from Czechoslovakia and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact .

Installation of the monument in 1945, meaning

Monument with tank No. 23 in the Smíchov district (1961)

The monument was ceremoniously unveiled on May 29, 1945 on what was then Štefánikovo náměstí , today Kinský Square (náměstí Kinských) , in the presence of the Soviet Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev . The tank stood on a massive stone pedestal five meters high, its course pointing west. He commemorated the arrival of the 1st Ukrainian Front , commanded by Konev, and especially the 4th Guards Panzer Army , led by General Dmitri Lelyushenko , which reached Prague on the early morning of May 9, 1945. The tank on display was meant to symbolize the first Soviet tank to roll into Prague. The memorial plaque on the base bore the inscription (translated): “ETERNAL GLORY TO THE HEROES of General Lelyushenko's Guard Panzer Army, who died in the struggle for the freedom and independence of our great Soviet homeland. May 9, 1945 ”.

The first Soviet tank to reach the Czechoslovak capital was T-34  No. I-24 of the 63rd Tank Brigade. It was destroyed in fighting with the German anti-tank units on Klárov Square on the Lesser Town , and its commander, Lieutenant Ivan Grigoryevich Goncharenko , was killed in the process. The burned out tank was unusable as a memorial and so the Soviets imported a new IS-2 tank  . This tank was larger and heavier than the T-34 and better represented the superiority and strength of the Red Army. Its turret has been marked with the number 23 and given the five-pointed red star . This tank was manufactured in the Kirov factory in Chelyabinsk in 1943 and placed on the monument by soldiers of the Red Army.

Memorial plaque for I. G. Goncharenko (2009)

In the 1950s the tank was declared a national cultural monument and the square was renamed náměstí Sovětských tankistů (Square of the Soviet Tank Soldiers) .

The No. 23 tank became a celebrated symbol of the Soviet liberation of the capital. Communist propaganda created a myth around this tank and spread the legend that the first tank that reached Prague in May 1945 was located here. The mayor of Prague at the time, Václav Vacek , spoke of this when the monument was unveiled . The No. 23 tank appeared in films and posters, and was glorified in poetry. A story about him even made it into a third grade primary school reader from 1978.

After the Hungarian uprising in 1956, by order of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, all engine parts had to be removed and the tank disabled. The insurgent Hungarians had put the tanks on display on memorials into operation to fight the advancing Soviet troops. The rulers feared that something similar could happen in Czechoslovakia.

Coloring, criticism and dismantling of the monument

After the so-called Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the end of communist censorship , the memorial became increasingly controversial. For many citizens, the tank no longer symbolized the liberation of Prague in 1945, but the Soviet invasion of 1968, which ended the Prague Spring and secured the supremacy of the Soviet Union over Czechoslovakia. This was also reminiscent of the number symbols assigned to tank No. 23 (1945 + 23 = 1968).

Criticism was not only that the tank on display was not authentic (type IS-2 was not used in Prague by the Soviet Red Army ), but that it was actually a tank of the anti-Soviet Russian Liberation Army (ROA) of General Vlasov under the command of General Sergei Kuzmich Bunjatschenko was the first to come to the aid of the Prague insurgents on May 6, 1945 and liberate several Prague districts, including the Smíchov district (the first tank of the Soviet Red Army to arrive in Prague was numbered no . 24). However, because Vlasov was viewed as a traitor by the Soviets, the installation of the (allegedly) Soviet “liberation tank” in the Smíchov district was intended to divert attention from this circumstance.

On the night of April 27-28, 1991, the then 23-year-old student at the Prague Art Academy, David Černý , and a few friends painted the tank pink. On the tank, Černý installed a pink finger sticking up towards the sky . This triggered heated public disputes, the authorities condemned the action and the Soviet government filed a sharp protest. The public discussed whether Černý's action was an insult to the fallen Soviet soldiers or whether the Soviets themselves had already dishonored the memory of their fallen in 1968.

Propadliště času fountain on the site of the monument (2006)

The police briefly arrested David Černý for causing public nuisance. Because of the upcoming celebrations at the end of the Second World War , the authorities had the tank painted green again just three days later. In protest against Černý's arrest, 15 members of the Občanské fórum party used their immunity and in May 1991 painted the tank pink again. President Václav Havel condemned this action.

From this point on, the shell remained pink. The status of a national cultural monument was lifted and the tank was removed from the base on June 13, 1991. It was initially taken to the Kbely Aviation Museum and later it was transferred to the Lešany Military Technical Museum .

The layers of paint (pink-green-pink) that were only hastily applied in 1991 peeled off over the next few years. The museum therefore had all the old layers of paint removed and the tank repainted with the pink color. The paintwork has since been renewed several times.

On October 17, 2002, a well with the name Propadliště času (German trapdoor of time ) was installed in the place where the tank used to be . A small memorial stone was placed in the lawn with the inscription (translated): “In memory of all who lost their lives in the liberation of Prague 5 in May 1945 ”.

Further actions

Pink tank torso (2001, 2008)

Pink Tank Torso on Kinsky Square (2008)

In 2001, David Černý suggested installing a Torso of the Pink Tank on Kinský Square - the tank seems to sink into the ground and only its stern protrudes. After violent protests by the then Prime Minister Miloš Zeman and the Russian ambassador, the city council rejected the project. The work of art was instead exhibited in Lázně Bohdaneč , a health resort that housed a Soviet garrison until 1991 .

On August 21, 2008, the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion, Černý transported the pink torso to Prague in an illegal nightly operation and set it up in the park on Kinský Square. He provided the tank with a white stripe, as used by armored Soviet vehicles in August 1968 as a marker. On June 12, 2009, the city council had the work removed.

CowParade (2004)

In 2004 a CowParade took place in Prague , an international project for art in public spaces . The artist Roman Týc had painted one of the cows made of fiberglass laminate in khaki and marked it with a five-pointed red star and the number 23 on both sides. The number should be reminiscent of the No. 23 tank. The cow "Romeo 23" was on view from May 2004 to September 2004 on Kinský Square. On July 8th, one day before the planned happening , when the cow was to be painted pink, three students cut the red star and the number 23 out of the cow in protest against this action.

Pink tanks on the Vltava (2011)

The "Pink Tank" on the Vltava as part of the "Freedom Week" (2011)

From June 20, 2011 to July 1, 2011, the freshly painted pink tank returned to Prague from the Lešany Military Technical Museum and was exhibited on a pontoon on the Vltava near Charles Bridge . It was the logo of the “Week of Freedom”, an event of the non-profit organization Opona (German curtain ) in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Prague Military History Institute on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet occupation troops and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. David Černý reinstalled an oversized pink stinky finger on the tank (the original finger from 1991 was lost).

The then Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra said of the action (translated): “The painting of the tank at that time was a provocation, but it was also an act of freedom. It has been 20 years since then and some things are good to remember because now is a new generation. The shell stays pink, we have this freedom, so let's cherish it. "

Panzertorso (2018)

Tank Torso on Kinský Square (2018)

On August 21, 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia, David Černý installed an armored torso on Kinský Square in the classic green color and again with the white stripe of the invading forces. Similar to its 2008 work, the tank sank into the ground and only its rear stuck out. Originally, the installation was only to be seen on the square for two days, but after an extension, the city administration approved the permanent residence.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Marie Koldinská, Ivan Šedivý: Smíchovský tank. Jsem zvláštní pomník, a já to vím. Dějiny a současnost, 2005, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Daniel Kraus: Tank číslo 23. Růžový osvoboditel, který nikdy neosvobozoval. Česká televize , May 7, 2020, accessed on May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  3. ↑ Ľubomír Smatana: Příběh tanku č. 23. Český rozhlas , April 29, 2015, accessed on May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  4. ↑ GONČARENKO Ivan Grigorjevič memorial plaque in the rock opposite house no. 132 in U Bruských kasáren street .
  5. ↑ Svobodné noviny , July 31, 1945. p. 2. online at NK ČR .
  6. ↑ tank č. 23 , Čítanka per 3. ročník základní školy , sestavila Vladimíra Gebhartová, Zdeněk Vykopal; Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 10 vydání 1978–1990 (Czech)
  7. ↑ Klára Stejskalová: Tank číslo 23. Osvoboditel, který nikdy neosvobozoval, ale stal se symbolem propagandy. Radio Prague International, April 25, 2021, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  8. ↑ Petr Sehnoutka: Příběh růžového tanku. Český rozhlas , April 26, 2011, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  9. ^ Propaganda symbol in pink: Soviet tank No. 23, Radio Prague International , April 25, 2021, accessed on May 16, 2021 . In the photo of the pink tank on the Prague monument you can see the raised middle finger.
  10. ↑ a b Dvacáté výročí nátěru. Co všechno si prožil Černého růžový tank. Týden.cz, April 26, 2011, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  11. ↑ Fontana "Propadliště času" před Justičním palácem. Pražské kašny a fontány, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  12. ↑ Fontana Propadliště času at the Prague city map
  13. ↑ Základní kámen pomníku obětem second světové války. Spolek pro vojenská pietní místa, accessed on May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  14. ↑ Vilém Faltýnek: Kontroverzní růžový tank se v Bohdanči Nori do země. Radio Prague International, May 30, 2001, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  15. ↑ Černý vrátil Praze růžový tank, tentokrát s okupačním pruhem. iDNES.cz, August 21, 2008, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  16. ↑ Pražský Smíchov přišel o torzo růžového tanku č. 23. Česká televize, June 12, 2009, accessed on May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  17. ↑ Vandalové zničili desítky výstavních krav. iDNES, June 10, 2004, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  18. ↑ Za poškození plastové krávy mohou dostat tři roky. novinky.cz, June 16, 2004, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  19. ^ Dominik Herzán, Tomáš Petrášek, Luděk Šamšula: Prohlášeni tří mimopražských vandalů. earch.cz, June 17, 2004, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  20. ↑ Martina Schneibergová: Pink tanks as a symbol: 20 years ago the Soviet troops withdrew. Radio Prague International, June 21, 2011, accessed May 16, 2021 .
  21. ↑ Prague commemorates liberation. Pink tank floats on the Vltava. oe24.at , June 21, 2011, accessed on May 16, 2021 .
  22. ↑ Andrej Halada, Natálie Poděbradská: Růžový tank bezpečně Dorazil do Prahy a houpá se na Vltavě. Ministerstvo obrany ČR, June 21, 2011, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  23. ↑ Tank torso on the Prague city map.
  24. ↑ V Praze depending znovu torzo tanku od výtvarníka Davida Černého. Novinky.cz, August 21, 2018, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).
  25. ↑ tank od Černého na náměstí Kinských zůstane, rozhodli Radni. artalk.cz, August 23, 2018, accessed May 16, 2021 (Czech).

Web links

Commons : Smíchovský tank  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files