© 2025 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Jan Carnogursky was a dissident leader in Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia, who was jailed prior to the "Velvet Revolution," which freed him. He went on to serve as the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, and then later its Justice Minister.

By Grant Davis Reeher

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wrvo/local-wrvo-964291.mp3

Oswego, NY – Jan Carnogursky was a dissident leader in Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia, who was jailed prior to the "Velvet Revolution," which freed him. He went on to serve as the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, and then later its Justice Minister. In this interview he relates growing up in the Soviet system and becoming a dissident, his experiences in prison, and the exciting and challenging times as a leader of an emerging democracy and a politician who had to learn the political skills required in democratic politics. He then connects some of these experiences to current revolutions and current politics more generally.