Nov 17, 2020
Slovakia Freedom and Democracy Day 2020
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Today’s Doodle celebrates Slovakia’s Freedom and Democracy Day, an annual holiday commemorating two courageous student protests separated by half a century of history. On November 15, 1939, thousands of students in the former nation of Czechoslovakia risked their lives to protest the German forces that had occupied the country. Just over 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 Slovakia’s national flag, which was established shortly before Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993. At the left of the flag sits Slovakia’s historic coat of arms, whose design can be traced back over a millennium to the Byzantine Empire. The flag’s red, white, and blue elements represent the Pan-Slavic colors, first chosen by the Pan-Slavic Congress of 1848.
Happy Freedom and Democracy Day, Slovakia!
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