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Czech HistoryEmanuel Moravec – the face of Czech collaboration with the Nazis
Some figures are cast as heroes and others as villains. Emanuel Moravec -
the face, voice and main force behind Czech collaboration with the
occupying Nazis during WWII - unmistakeably belongs to the latter category.
For his actions he became dubbed ‛the Czech Quisling’ – a reference
the more famous Norwegian collaborator. In this week’s Czechs in History,
Chris Johnstone explores Moravec’s complex character and path to
collaboration. More
From the ArchivesCzechoslovakia’s Second Republic: a vain attempt to put the pieces together
The six months leading up to the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia
in March 1939 were a strange period. After Germany, Poland and Hungary had
annexed over a quarter of the country’s territory as a result of the
Munich Agreement in September 1938, it was hard to see how the rump
Czechoslovakia – the so-called “Second Republic” - could keep going.
But Radio Prague’s shortwave broadcasts continued, and not surprisingly
they focused on sustaining the much shaken international confidence in the
country. Here is the famous Czech professor and scholar of English
literature, Otakar Vočadlo, talking in November 1938. More
From the ArchivesAfter Munich: Czechoslovakia left to her fate
In recent weeks, I’ve tried to capture something of the tense atmosphere
of the time leading up to the Munich Agreement of September 30 1938, when
the British and French Prime Ministers Chamberlain and Daladier allowed
Hitler to carve up Czechoslovakia and march unopposed into the Sudetenland.
The agreement left the country as a fragment of its former self; not only
Germany, but also Hungary and Poland, claimed large chunks of
Czechoslovakia’s borderlands. Here is how Radio Prague reported on the
final border agreement, reached some weeks after Munich was signed. The
scale of the loss is huge. More
From the ArchivesWarnings of Hitler's ambitions go unheeded
We quite often hear it said that in the run-up to World War Two, no-one
quite realized the scale of the threat that Nazi Germany posed in Europe.
When Hitler set his eyes on Czechoslovakia, there were plenty of
politicians in Western Europe who really seemed to believe him, when he
said that the Czech borderlands, the so-called Sudetenland, were his
“last territorial claim”. But Czech Radio’s archives show only too
clearly, that here in Prague there were also plenty of people who were only
too aware of the worldwide menace that Hitler posed. As Britain and France
pursued their policy of appeasement towards Germany, these were voices
that, tragically, remained unheard. More
From the ArchivesThe people make their voice heard
One of the most dramatic - but least known - events in Czechoslovak
Radio’s history dates back to September 21 1938. This was the day that
the government announced that it was willing to succumb to German pressure,
and would give up large areas of the country’s borderlands to Nazi
Germany. By this time it was clear that Britain and France would not be
willing to fight for Czechoslovakia’s territorial integrity, and that to
say no would mean invasion. The announcement sent a shockwave through Czech
society, and immediately thousands took to the streets in protest. More
From the ArchivesSeptember 1938: last-minute appeals for moderation as Hitler builds upforces on the Czech border
This week we continue our look into the dramatic events in Czechoslovakia
just before World War Two. By the summer of 1938, Hitler’s Germany was
demanding nothing less than the immediate annexation of the entire
Sudetenland – all parts of Bohemia and Moravia with a German speaking
majority. The Sudeten German Party had made big gains among German speakers
in local elections earlier that year, and the Nazi rhetoric of their
leaders was unambiguous. More
Czech BooksThe occupation of 1939: could it have been avoided?
Earlier this week we remembered the 72nd anniversary of the German
occupation of Bohemia and Moravia on March 15 1939. Much has been written
about the years that led up to the occupation: the growing tensions with
Czechoslovakia’s German speaking minority, Hitler’s rise to power in
Germany and then the Munich Agreement of September 1938 that ceded a
quarter of Czechoslovakia’s territory to the German Reich. There is a
sense of inevitability about the events, but could things have been
different and could Czechoslovakia’s President Edvard Beneš have played
his cards differently? More
Current AffairsSymbol of Czech statehood reopens as first museum of modern history
Wednesday marks the 91st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia.
In conjunction with that anniversary, the National Memorial on Prague’s
Vítkov hill has just been officially reopened after extensive
renovations.
It was built in honour of the Czech legionnaires whose bravery in World
War
I helped pave the way for the creation of the state, and reflects much of
modern Czech history. More
Czech Books“The Chamberlain Effect”: When did World War Two really begin?
The 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two this week will pass
almost unnoticed in the Czech Republic. The reason is simple. For Czechs
and Slovaks the tragedy did not begin with the invasion of Poland, but a
full year earlier. With the Munich Agreement of September 1938, Britain,
France and Italy gave Hitler the green light to annex huge tracts of
Czechoslovakia and less than six months later, Nazi troops marched into
what was left of the Czech lands unopposed. So how did Hitler get away with
bringing a determined and well-defended democratic country under the sway
of the swastika, while Czechoslovakia’s allies stood by? The British
historian and politician, David Faber, has tried to answer this question in
his book, Munich: The 1938 Appeasement Crisis, which focuses above all on
the role of the British political establishment, in particular Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain. This is the most detailed account of the
events leading up to Munich to be published for several decades, and an
American edition is due out this month. I caught up with David Faber in
London, and we discussed some of the many aspects of a book that deserves
to become a classic.
More
Czechs in HistoryEmanuel Moravec – the face of Czech collaboration with the Nazis
Some figures are cast as heroes and others as villains. Emanuel Moravec -
the face, voice and main force behind Czech collaboration with the
occupying Nazis during WWII - unmistakeably belongs to the latter category.
For his actions he became dubbed ‛the Czech Quisling’ – a reference
the more famous Norwegian collaborator. In this week’s Czechs in History,
Chris Johnstone explores Moravec’s complex character and path to
collaboration.
More
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