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SpotlightThe inside story of the history of Prague’s Pankrác prison
Pankrác is a byword in the Czech Republic for the large prison that stands
a little way outside the centre of Prague. The prison has been the focus
for much of the worst and some of the best that has happened over the last
120 years. Appropriately, some mementos have been stored for posterity.
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ArtsDVD series resurrects 1950s Czechoslovak Socialist Realist films
Filmy patří lidu (Films Belong to the People) is the title of a series of
Socialist Realist pictures that have been released on DVD in the Czech
Republic in recent months. These propaganda-filled films are from the
1950s, the harshest decade of the communist era, notorious for its brutal
repression, show trials and forced labour camps.
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Current AffairsPrávo: former ‘People’s Prosecutor’ could be released as early as next year
The Czech daily Právo reported this week that a former Communist
prosecutor sent to prison for her role in the judicial murder of democratic
politician Milada Horáková in 1950 could be released next year. Ludmila
Brožová-Polednová, who at 88 is the country’s oldest prisoner, could
have her six-year sentence reduced by half.
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Current AffairsMinister of Human Rights slams public broadcaster for showing communist era news
Old TV news has been in the news recently here in the Czech Republic.
Michael Kocáb, the human rights minister, has slammed the public
broadcaster Czech TV for showing daily bulletins from the communist era. It
is the same, he says, as if German TV showed Nazi-era news in the 1960s.
Sarah Borufka reports.
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Talking PointThe legacy of communism and the need to reunite European history
Last month Prague hosted a major international conference on the crimes
committed by the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe.
Delegates
from both sides of the former Iron Curtain discussed their research into
atrocities that in many cases had been swept under the carpet for decades.
To give a couple of examples: how many Europeans today remember that up to
130,000 people were executed in the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia in the
aftermath World War II, or that in Romania hundreds of opponents to the
Stalinist regime were shot by the Securitate and buried in unmarked mass
graves between 1948 and 1952? Raluca Grosescu from Romania’s Institute
for the Investigation of Communist Crimes points out that her
institute’s
work has involved a great deal more than just sifting through archives: More
Current AffairsNGOs look to bring back spirit of activism on 100th Women’s Day
Monday is International Women’s Day, and in 2010 that means one hundred
years since the holiday was introduced. The idea to highlight the struggle
for women’s rights around the world picked up a different tone in
communist countries like Czechoslovakia though, and was largely discarded
after 1989. Now some NGOs in the Czech Republic want to use the 100th
anniversary to reawaken the spirit of activism that Women’s Day
originally stood for.
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Current AffairsFormer communist prosecutor, jailed for judicial murder, may soon walk free
Ludmila Brožová-Polednová, a former communist prosecutor who is serving
a six year prison sentence for her role in helping to send democratic
politician Milada Horáková to the gallows in a notorious 1950s show
trial, may soon be released. It has now come to light that three
presidential amnesties apply to her case, each lowering her sentence by two
years.
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One on OneChinese prison camp victim and human rights activist Harry Wu
In this week’s One on One I talk to Chinese Human rights activist Harry
Wu. He survived 19 years in Chinese prison camps. Released during a thaw in
1979, he was later invited to the United States where he became a citizen.
There he has devoted himself to uncovering details of the Chinese labour
camp system, risking a fresh term in the camps when he went back to China
in 1995. On the sidelines of a conference in Prague about communist crimes,
I asked him what he had been able to find out about the Chinese camp
system.
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Current AffairsFormer Albanian political prisoner among guests at Mene Tekel festival
This week, Prague is hosting the fourth international Mene Tekel festival
which highlights the crimes of communism and presents the testimonies of
those persecuted by totalitarian regimes. On Thursday, the festival is
screening a short Albanian documentary called Prison Nation, which
describes one of Europe’s most vicious communist regimes. Radio Prague
met with Tomor Aliko, a former Albanian political prisoner, whose powerful
testimony is featured in the film. More
Current AffairsFourth Mene Tekel festival against totalitarianism opens in Prague
Mene Tekel, Prague’s annual international festival against
totalitarianism, opens in the Czech capital on Monday afternoon with a
concert by Jaroslav Hutka and the Blue Effect band on Old Town Square. Now
in its fourth year, the festival offers a week full of debates, films
screenings and a number of rock concerts.
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