When asked how the idea of founding a new periodical during the Cold War came to him, Pavel Tigrid, the founder, organizer and one of the authors of the Svědectví (Testimony) review, repeatedly said that the main reason was to initiate an East-West dialogue after the weakening of Stalinism in Central Europe. The quarter-century anniversary of the inception of two major journals, Světová literature (World Literature) back home and Svědectví in exile, was an opportunity for reflection. In 1981, dozens of representatives of exile culture gathered in Franken, Germany, to evaluate the publication history of Svědectví up to that point. Jan Vladislav, in a comprehensive report, drew numerous parallels between the two periodicals, thus demonstrating the fulfilment of Tigrid's vision in founding Svědectví.