I recently rediscovered over 2 hours of unedited VHS footage my grandfather took during a visit to Czechoslovakia in 1988. My grandfather (along with the rest of my family) was stripped of his Czechoslovak citizenship after fleeing the 1968 Soviet invasion. Two decades later, with Czechoslovakia under hard-line communist rule and continued Russian occupation, he was able to pay his homeland a brief visit. When discussing the footage over email recently my grandfather noted how under communism “everything was in bad shape, neglected, and very sad.” These clips from Prague are some of the “nicest” shots from this tape. While they may not be the most holistic portrayal of life under communist rule, they speak (I think) to Prague’s resilience and beauty despite enduring decades of multiple different occupations.