Enlarge picturePhoto:
David W Cerny / REUTERS
On March 27, 1991, the ADN news agency reported the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia.
The last tank left the country after almost 23 years.
That wasn't exactly the truth.
They had forgotten at least one, in the Smichow district.
The residents of Prague's Kinsky Square saw it on a five-meter-high stone plinth, the gun barrel pointing west.
And a month later, this tank was to cause a sensation with its extremely extravagant color and shape.
»Panzer Number 23« was a national cultural monument in memory of the entry of the Red Army into Prague on May 9, 1945 and of the fallen Soviet soldiers. Above all, however, he reminded younger people that Soviet tanks rolled in for a second time: in 1968, to suppress the reform movement in the »Prague Spring«. That was also due to the mysterious number 23. The official explanation: The Soviet tank number 23 was the first to reach Prague.
Prague's Mayor Václav Vacek and General Iwan Konew, Marshal of the Soviet Union, ceremoniously unveiled the memorial on July 29, 1945. Instead of the original T-34 tank, however, there was a brand new IS-2 on the base, significantly larger, heavier and with a painted 23rd The commander of the 4th Panzer Army is said to have said that the Czechs would not be given such rubbish - because number 23 as well as number 24 had suffered serious damage in street fighting.
The monument tank was never used, but it looked more representative.
The type designation IS stood for Iosif Stalin.
Eleven years later, shortly after the popular uprising in Hungary, the Soviets are said to have removed the engine to be on the safe side.
The emblematic number 23
Looking back, the Czechs saw a symbol in the wrong tank number 23: Exactly 23 years had passed until the Soviets approached again in the Prague Spring - and stayed. In 1991, again 23 years later, the debate about the removal of the questionable monument had flared up. The press revealed other oddities about the location: The Red Army had never captured the Smichow district. Rather, the first liberation tanks had already arrived in the west of Prague on May 6th. They belonged to General Andrei Vlasov's army.
Vlasov's so-called Russian Liberation Army was recruited from prisoners of war in Germany in 1944 to fight on the side of the Wehrmacht. Shortly before the end of the war, she changed fronts and supported the Prague in uprising against the German occupiers. Then the Russians went into American captivity in Wehrmacht uniforms. However, the US Army refused them the help they had hoped for and handed them over to Moscow in accordance with an agreement with Stalin. Most of the soldiers ended up in Siberian labor camps, and their commanders were executed.
Soviet historiography did not say a word about this.
When the first Red Army units arrived in Prague on May 9, the Wehrmacht commander had already signed the unconditional surrender there, and there were only minor skirmishes.
Smichow as the location of the tank memorial was intended to make people forget the memory of Vlasov's army and their contribution to the liberation.
For decades, Monument thief Marshal Konew was considered the liberator of Prague.
“Every time I saw this shell, my blood began to boil.
I've hated him since I was a kid. "
After that, tank number 23 was only one thing for many Czechs: a testimony to manipulated historiography.
Art student David Černý felt the same way: "After 40 years in which the disgusting Russian regime had robbed and devastated our country, I saw the opportunity to share the opinion of many Czechs."
When Prague woke up on the morning of April 28, 1991, tank No. 23 had gained new meaning: at around 6.45 a.m. the police observed young people painting.
They showed a - forged - permission document from the town hall.
What puzzled the policemen, led to hectic phone calls and finally to exposure, was the unusual color that the troops painted on: pink.
The finished work seemed even more dubious - an oversized, outstretched pink middle finger now protruded from the armored dome.
The house painter had signed her work on the floor of the stone plinth: "David Černý and the Neostunners".
"Shooting" allowed the alleged document from the city administration.
"The funniest thing was: when the police came, I showed the papers and there was a friend with a camera, they just said we should clean up when we were done," Černý, 23 at the time, told SPIEGEL.
He and his friends had been preparing the action for days.
“Every time I saw this shell, my blood began to boil.
I hated this tank since I was a child because it was a symbol of the Russian dictatorship. "
Further tank metamorphoses could then be observed on Kinsky Square: the amputation of the offending body part and the hasty covering with a green military tarpaulin.
Fast color changes: first green, then pink again
When the Soviet ambassador protested against the "desecrated and desecrated monument", the Prague Foreign Ministry expressed its regret.
The defense minister denounced the color scheme as vandalism, hastily apologized to the embassy and sent soldiers to paint over the tank - military green, just before the anniversary of the liberation.
Černý himself had disappeared for the time being.
The accusation in an investigation against him was: "public disturbance".
The clause in the criminal code originated from communist times and had already been abused in abundance against dissident activities.
That it was still in force: another scandal.
Černý's supporters were able to donate to an account that was quickly opened for the expected punishment.
A circle of friends was formed with the aim of reversing the greening of the tank.
A group of 15 MPs, including former dissidents, gathered on the evening of May 16 to change colors again.
Wrapped in work suits with letters on their backs that identified them as members of parliament with immunity and thus protected from criminal prosecution, they painted the tank pink again.
Contrary to reports to the contrary, he was never imprisoned, says Černý.
He was hiding with his girlfriend while the police examined his father's car for traces of paint.
When he was back on the street, someone, to his amazement, pushed a "Petition for Černý" into his hand.
Freshly painted back to Prague
Foreign Minister Jiří Dienstbier now officially called the tank a »symbol of oppression«, while President Václav Havel condemned the actions of the MPs and clearly distanced himself from it.
He had once appeared as a critic of the regime against the crackdown on the Prague Spring and, as head of state, had announced his exit from the arms industry.
At the same time, Havel was dealing with another tank issue: In the Slovak part of the country, people laughed more softly at the Prague tank posse.
Until 1989 Slovakia was one of the most important tank manufacturers in the world and, in line with Soviet interests, not only supplied the Eastern Bloc.
From the point of view of many Slovaks, the planned production stop endangered tens of thousands of jobs.
In this growing nationalist mood, Prague agreed to deliver tanks to Syria - despite vigorous protests from Israel and the United States.
While this deal made international headlines, tank number 23 in Prague lost its status as a national cultural monument.
On June 13, 1991, he had to leave his pedestal, was temporarily housed in the Prague Aviation Museum and finally in the Military Museum of Lešany outside the city.
David Černý, at that time the head of the Prague tank beautifiers, has been causing a stir internationally with provocative and curious art actions (see Fptostrecke above).
In 2005 he put a Saddam Hussein figure as a »shark« in formaldehyde and in 2009 angered several governments with a Europe installation.
And before the Olympic Games in London in 2012, he was teaching push-ups to a six-ton double-decker bus - with powerful hydraulic arms.
The tank that Černý and his friends had changed so significantly was allowed to go back to Prague on June 20, 2011 in the course of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of the Soviet troops: freshly painted pink and with a new finger.