Now available in a hardcover format, Invasion Prague 68 reinstates the vitality and prescience of Koudelka’s work in capturing public defiance in the face of political suppression
When Soviet-led troops invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, ending the short-lived Prague Spring, Josef Koudelka was one of the first on the scene. As an acclaimed theater photographer, Koudelka (born in Moravia, Czech Republic, 1938) knew nothing about photojournalism, but that would soon change. In the turmoil of the invasion, he took a series of photographs purely for himself, which were miraculously smuggled out of the country. A year after they reached New York, Magnum Photos distributed and credited the photos to an unknown Czech photographer. Their significance earned the still-anonymous photographer the Robert Capa Award. Sixteen years would pass before Koudelka could safely acknowledge authorship.
Images of "Josef Koudelka: Invasion Prague 68" by Aperture. Images courtesy of Josef Koudelka and Aleš Najbrt.