NEUPAUER, František – ŠIMULČÍK, Ján. Slovak Organization for the Defending of Human Rights in StB documents and Vladimír Jukl' speech of April 1968

In 1968, political prisoners of the Communist regime began to organise themselves. On 31 March 1968, the organisation K 231 (Club 231) was founded in Prague at Žofín. On 7 April 1968, an independent organisation of political prisoners called the Slovak Organisation for the Defending of Human Rights (Slovenská organizácia na ochranu ľudských práv – SONOĽP) was established in Slovakia. The constituent assembly was held at the Boatmen's House in Bratislava. Those present demanded that the Czechoslovak government uphold the UN Declaration on Human Rights from 1948. The atmosphere of the founding assembly of SONOĽP is documented by a transcript of Vladimír Jukl's speech (Document No. 1), who was paroled from prison in 1965. This authentic speech reveals the perspective of a former political prisoner sentenced to many years of imprisonment, his perception of the reality of life in 1968 and his vision for the future. We know there are no speeches of the participants of the assembly of 7 April 1968 preserved, so the publication of Vladimír Jukl's speech has a significant value. The courage of the former political prisoners caused a reaction also from those who sought democratisation of Czechoslovakia. On 12 May 1968, Zdeněk Mlynář said of K 231 that it was an association of legally convicted people, and Gustáv Husák referred to them as criminals. The activity of the organisation was already prohibited on 1 October 1968. Two other documents reveal the State Security's view of SONOĽP's activities. Of the original several hundred pages of State Security documents, only 15 letters of the file are preserved. Of course, other documents relating to the SONOĽP are in the personal files of the persecuted, and further research is needed.