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Current AffairsUltra-right National Party seeks to gain attention ahead of elections
The National Party, one of three tiny ultra right wing groupings which have
been on the margin of Czech politics for years now without gaining any
significant support - is suddenly making headlines. Ahead of the June
general elections, the party is highlighting its anti-Romany,
anti-immigration and anti-drugs stand.
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Current AffairsGerman fans cheer for Litvinov - or is it Oberleutensdorf?
The Czech-German border is one of history's fault lines, for centuries a
place of tension between the German and the Slav worlds. For many people
the events of 1938, when Hitler annexed the Czech border regions are still
in living memory, and after the war almost the entire German minority of
Czechoslovakia was forcibly expelled. But although we often hear about
Czech-German tensions, on the ground things today are very different. Once
closely guarded borders are open and cross-border relations are friendly
and for the most part break the stereotype. A case in point is in the
northern Czech industrial town of Litvinov - once known in German as
Oberleutensdorf - famous for its chemical works and its ice-hockey team,
and just ten kilometres from the border. David Vaughan went along to the
Ivan Hlinka Hockey Stadium, to meet some rather unusual Litvinov fans.
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Current AffairsPolice come under fire as major neo-Nazi concert held in South Bohemia
Police came under fire this weekend after allowing a major neo-Nazi concert
to take place undisturbed. Several hundred police monitored the event but
refused to intervene, despite convincing evidence that the law was being
broken.
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Current AffairsTopolanek downplays 'informal' meeting with far-right National Party
Not long after Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek threatened a
"night of the long knives" for the civil service if his party
wins the next elections, he now finds himself under the spotlight for
holding talks with a small nationalist grouping. On Tuesday Mr Topolanek
met Petra Edelmannova, the leader of the marginal right-wing National
Party, though he told reporters the talks had no particular goal. But is
there a chance the Civic Democrats could in some way link up with the
National Party in the future?
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Current AffairsCzech concentration camp survivor and forced labourer, recalls the destruction of Dresden
The Allied bombing of Dresden towards the end of World War II remains a
touchtone for the perils of war -- and a rallying cry for Germany's far
right. The official death toll from the raids stands at about 35,000.
Survivors say it was much higher, as bodies were reduced to ashes in the
ensuing firestorm that levelled the historic city once known as the
"Florence on the Elbe." Czech forced labourers and concentration
camp survivors who lived through the February 13, 1945 bombardment were
among those on hand for commemorations. More
