Martin Šmíd

Martin Šmíd was a fictitious Czechoslovak university student, who was supposedly killed in the police attack on the November 17, 1989 student demonstration in Prague that launched Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution.^[1] The rumor of Šmíd's death was spread by Drahomíra Dražská, a porter at a student dormitory in the city's Troja district. The dissident Petr Uhl believed the report and passed it along to Radio Free Europe, which broadcast it. The news of a student's death shocked many, and the rumor is thought to have contributed to the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

The Martin Šmíd in question was allegedly a student of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University. Two students with that name attended the school at the time, both in their second year at the university, but nothing happened to either of them on November 17. One did not attend the student demonstration, and the other left it just before the police attack.

Drahomíra Dražská's actions, and her motivation for them, have never been fully made clear, but the most likely explanation is that she invented the story of Šmíd's death.^[2] Some conspiracy theorists, however, think that the rumor was an attempt by State Security, Czechoslovakia's secret police, to inflame the situation, and that they induced Dražská to spread the disinformation.^[3]

The personal testimony of one of the real Martin Šmíds, about what he experienced on November 17, is available on his personal website.^[4]

Reference

1. ^ Dan Bilefsky, "Velvet Revolution’s Roots Obscure 20 Years Later," New York Times, 17 November 2009.
2. ^ Závěrečná zpráva vyšetřovací komise Federálního shromáždění pro objasnění událostí 17. listopadu 1989, část III. 5) - Desinformace o údajném úmrtí studenta Šmída, [cit. 2009-10-21]. Available online.
3. ^ KULISY A ZÁKULISÍ OBČANSKÉHO FÓRA aneb jak se vyráběl samet, Karel Srp, Necenzurované noviny, ročník 5, výtisk 38
4. ^ [1]