Word: hus
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...side to side in the baroque alleyways of Prague. The Russians surrounded the presidential palace on Hradcany Hill, planted artillery on the heights of Letna Hill, where a mammoth statue of Stalin once overlooked the city. In Old Town Square, they even placed six antiaircraft guns by the Jan Hus monument, the symbol of Czechoslovakia's historic quest for liberty. Everywhere, paratroops in purple berets stood guard alongside tank crews in full battle dress, cradling automatic rifles in their laps. In swiftness of execution, the invasion had been a model military operation. But the occupation was soon to prove quite...
Those words of Czechoslovakia's national hero, Jan Hus, are en graved on the base of his statue in Prague. Last week, as Soviet tanks clanked into the capital, someone limned the graven letters in red chalk so that they stood out sharply on the grey granite. The words were spoken 550 years ago, at a time when the Bo hemians, who now are known as Czechs, were trying to win a measure of re ligious and national autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire. But they remain a poignant reminder of a de termined people's long search for freedom...
...sort of natural identity, and their first weapon was religion. They won from Rome the right to conduct their religious services in Slavonic in the 9th century. Partially as a result of this independence, the Czechs started the Reformation 100 years before Luther. The revolt was led by Jan Hus, who called for a reform of the Catholic Church and encouraged laymen to participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist...
...Hus was burned at the stake as a heretic. Taking the chalice as their symbol, his followers founded the Hussite sect, which was based on secular religion and nationalism. In 1618, after Emperor Matthias tried to check the growth of Protestantism, Czech patriots in Prague tossed two imperial officials from the windows of Hradcany Castle. In retaliation, the Habsburg armies crushed the Hussites, executed their leaders, burned Czech Bibles and outlawed the language. Though overwhelmed, the Czechs and Slovaks waged a passive resistance. As Friedrich Schiller later reflected...
...Tito's visit put seal and confirmation on the reality of their triumph at Cierna in defense of their new freedoms. Until he arrived, many Czechoslovaks had found the sudden letup in Soviet pressure almost too good to be believed. Young Czechoslovaks milled around Prague's Jan Hus monument, puzzling over what had happened. The nagging suspicion lingered that their leaders had undertaken a secret sellout to the Soviets that only later would become apparent. Those fears were reinforced by the fact that Dubček and his colleagues purposefully played down the scope of their victory...