Josef Koudelka: Invasion Prague 68, Now in Hardcover Format

New York, October 27, 2026—This November, Aperture will release Josef Koudelka: Invasion Prague 68 in a hardcover format.

When Soviet-led troops invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, ending the short-lived Prague Spring, Josef Koudelka was one of the first on the scene. As an acclaimed theater photographer, Koudelka (born in Moravia, Czech Republic, 1938) knew nothing about photojournalism, but that would soon change. In the turmoil of the invasion, he took a series of photographs purely for himself, which were miraculously smuggled out of the country. A year after they reached New York, Magnum Photos distributed and credited the photos to an unknown Czech photographer. Their significance earned the still-anonymous photographer the Robert Capa Award. Sixteen years would pass before Koudelka could safely acknowledge authorship.

This hardcover edition of Invasion Prague 68 contains 250 images selected by Koudelka from his archive, punctuated by contemporary broadcasts and eye-witness accounts. Almost sixty years later, these searing photographs return to light, standing as a timely reminder of the brutality of political repression and the importance of bearing witness to injustice.

Aperture would like to thank the Institute of Contemporary History at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, and Magnum Photos, Paris, for their assistance in publishing this book. Josef Koudelka: Invasion Prague 68 is published by Aperture and available at aperture.org. 

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 Josef Koudelka (born in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, 1938; naturalized French, 1987) began his career as an aeronautical engineer before turning fulltime to photography in the late 1960s. In 1968 he photographed the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1969, he was anonymously awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal for the photographs that were published with the initials P.P. (Prague photographer). Koudelka left Czechoslovakia seeking political asylum, in 1970, and shortly thereafter joined Magnum Photos. His awards include the Prix Nadar, Grand Prix National de la Photographie, HCB Award, Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, Medal of Merit from the Czech Republic, and being named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Significant exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art and International Center of Photography, New York; Hayward Gallery, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Koudelka’s books include Gypsies (1975), Exiles (1988), Black Triangle (1994), Chaos (1999), Invasion 68: Prague (2008), Wall (2013), Ruins (2020), and Next (by Melissa Harris, 2023). He is based in Paris and Prague.

Aleš Najbrt studied typography and book design with Jan Solpera at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design, Prague. He was an art director of the influential Czech weekly Reflex and founder of his own magazine, Raut. With Pavel Lev, he cofounded Studio Najbrt. For his film and theater posters, books, and other works, he received the Grand Prix at the 17th Biennial of Graphic Design in Brno in 1996, a Bronze Prize from the Tokyo Type Directors Club, five Czech Lion Awards, and the Czech Grand Design 2007 award. He designed Josef Koudelka: Next, a visual biography by Melissa Harris (2023), Invasion 68: Prague (2008), Theatre (2022), Returning (2018), Deníky (2021), the Czech edition of Diaries and several others.

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About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From our new home at 380 Columbus Avenue in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through our acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from Bobby Campbell Charitable Fund, Coach, David Dechman and Michel Mercure, Susan and Thomas Dunn, FotoFocus, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Celso M. Gonzalez-Falla, William Talbot Hillman Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Mailman Foundation, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, James McKinney, Richard and Ronay Menschel, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Robert Motherwell and Renate Ponsold, Neuberger Berman, New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Ms. Eliot Nolen of the Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund, Yesim and Dusty Philip, Theodore and Mary Jo Shen, Diane Sherman, Michael W. Sonnenfeldt/MUUS Collection, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

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Press Contact:
Lauren Van Natten, Aperture, publicity@aperture.org