Victims of Communism Memorial

At the bottom of Petřín Hill is Prague’s Memorial to the Victims of the Communist Regime.





The memorial commemorates the victims of the communist era from 1948 – 1989. It’s both interesting and kind of spooky. The line of statues shows a person’s destruction. Each figure loses parts of its body until it just disappears. It’s meant to symbolize how political prisoners were affected by communism.

The bronze strip that runs through the center shows the estimated numbers of the victims.
205,486 – arrested
170,938 – forced into exile
4,500 – died in prison
327 – shot trying to escape
248 – executed

The memorial consisted of seven statues when it was unveiled in 2002. Unfortunately, one of the statues was destroyed during two bomb blasts in 2003. No group ever admitted to the attack.