#ColdWitch History Lessons

Josef Koudelka: The Man Who Risked His Life to Photograph the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia

The human spirit rises amidst the darkest landscapes.

After years of taking striking photos of Rromani people, Josef Koudelka stood before the tanks in Prague during the 1968 Soviet invasion. His negatives were later smuggled out of the city and given to the Magnum agency, who published his work anonymously (for fear of political reprisal) in The Sunday Times Magazine under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer).His pictures of these events became international symbols of the Czechoslovakian struggle. In 1969, "P.P." was awarded the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal for photographs requiring exceptional courage. With Magnum to recommend him to the British authorities, Koudelka fled to England in 1970, where he applied for political asylum and stayed for more than a decade.


Warsaw Pact troops invade Prague, August 1968











Warsaw Pact tanks invade Prague, August 1968











Carnival in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, 1968










See the rest of these stunning images here.

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