'Prague Spring' photographs by Josef Koudelka

The “Invasion – Prague 68” series, which made Magnum’s Josef Koudelka the world’s most famous anonymous photographer and forced him into exile, are on display at the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow.

Dozens of black-and-white photographs show the streets of Prague in August 1968 after Soviet tanks rolled into the city…

…and everyone – soldiers and Prague residents alike – waited to see how it would end as both sides issued contradictory information.

Tension builds during the relatively calm first days of the invasion…

…but those photographs give way to images of burning tanks and barricades.

The tension in the photographs is heightened by the soundtrack playing in the background, which sounds like a possible countdown to your execution or perhaps a last minute pardon.

The photographs depict vivid emotions – the embarrassment and tiredness of soldiers ordered to invade a country whose residents are ready to fight for their freedom to the last.

The series “Invasion – Prague 68” changed the life of the photographer, who at the time was 30 years old. Koudelka did not think of publishing the photographs when he shot them. But when Magnum President Elliott Erwitt saw them, he asked Koudelka for the negatives and promised to keep his name secret for safety reasons.

The photographs were signed P.P. – Prague Photographer – and soon made Koudelka the most famous anonymous photographer in the world.
Photo: Josef Koudelka and his daughter Leticia at the exhibition, “Invasion – Prague 68.”