Nov 17, 2020
Czech Republic Freedom and Democracy Day 2020
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Today’s Doodle commemorates the Czech Republic’s Freedom and Democracy Day, a national holiday celebrated in honor of two courageous student protests separated by half a century of history. On November 15, 1939, Czech students in Prague risked their lives to lead a protest against the German forces that had occupied what was then Czechoslovakia. 50 years later, on November 17, 1989, a peaceful student demonstration paying homage to those events sparked the beginning of the Velvet Revolution and the country’s eventual freedom from Soviet rule.
Today’s Doodle depicts the Czech national flag, which was first designed in 1920 following the formation of Czechoslovakia. The colors red, white, and blue were chosen to incorporate at least one symbolic color from each of the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian components of the former state. Upon the establishment of the Czech Republic in 1993, the budding nation embraced the design as part of its new national identity.
Happy Freedom and Democracy Day, Czech Republic!
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