Family memories
It is truly sad to hear what happened to the protestors.
Yuri Andropov, influencer (as KGB chief) of Premier Leonid Brezhnev and eventual Soviet premier himself, had much to do with the stamping out of Czech liberalism in 1968. As the Soviet ambassador to Hungary at the time of the 1956 uprising, he had been strongly affected by seeing Hungarian Communists and secret policemen strung from Budapest lampposts, and held that Soviet gains in influence (if not outright occupation of territory) were to be defended at all costs—including by force.