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Czech HistoryPetr Novák: The man who wrote the soundtrack for the Prague Spring
Petr Novák's unmistakeable, delicate tenor voice is synonymous with
Czechoslovak society of the late 1960s. This talented musician shot to
fame in this country at the time of the Prague Spring, when his gentle
love songs influenced by Western pop groups like The Beatles were hugely
popular among young Czechs. His success during this era, however, proved
to be short-lived and his career subsequently stagnated under the
influence of communist repression and his own problems with alcohol. More
From the ArchivesPaul Robeson in Prague: paying homage to Dvořák and socialism
In last week’s From the Archives we featured Martin Luther King,
interviewed by Czechoslovak Radio in 1963. But Dr King was not the first
civil rights campaigner to address Czech and Slovak radio listeners. Four
years earlier, in June 1959, Paul Robeson came to Prague, to take part in
an international left-wing cultural congress. Robeson was a man of many
talents – singer, actor, athlete, writer and civil rights activist. He
never concealed his sympathies with the communist regimes of the Eastern
Bloc, and his political views – combined with the colour of his skin –
earned him virtual pariah status in many sections of the US political
establishment. This culminated in 1950 when he was refused a passport. More
Czech HistoryNew website presents the life and sacrifice of Jan Palach
It was one of the most remarkable single acts in Czechoslovak history, one
that still today evokes mingled shock and admiration. Now the documents,
reports, essays and films relating to the self-immolation of Jan Palach -
five months after the invasion of his country by Warsaw Pact forces – is
available to the public through a new website launched to commemorate the
life and sacrifice of the young activist. More
From the ArchivesSeeking asylum in communist Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia played an active part in the Soviet Union’s propaganda war
with the United States during the 1950s, a time of edginess and paranoia on
both sides. There was no shortage of people trying to flee across the Iron
Curtain to the West, but every now and then the flight would be in the
other direction, and someone from the West would actively seek asylum in
the Communist Bloc. For the communist regimes this was a propaganda
opportunity not to be missed. More
Czech HistoryPresident Gustáv Husák, the face of Czechoslovakia’s “normalisation”
The last communist president of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák became the
symbol of the spineless regime that ruled the country after the Soviet-led
invasion of Czechoslovakia. Himself a political prisoner in the 1950s, he
oversaw the persecution of opposition activists in the 1970s and 80s – an
intellectual who supported the reforms of the Prague Spring turned into the
Soviet Union’s lackey. We look at the life of Gustáv Husák on the 99th
anniversary of his birth. More
Czech HistoryFighter against dictatorships: Cardinal Josef Beran
Archbishop, later Cardinal, Josef Beran, become a symbol of opposition to
totalitarian regimes. He was dubbed the archbishop who refused to be
silenced. The punishment for speaking out was imprisonment first under the
Nazi occupation and then the Communists. More
From the ArchivesYuri Gagarin: to Prague via the stratosphere
Even after the death of Stalin in the Soviet Union and Klement Gottwald in
Czechoslovakia the 1950s remained a period of high political tension
between East and West. The Cold War was at its height; with it came the
arms race and the space race. Here is Czechoslovakia’s president Antonín
Novotný, in a New Year radio address on January 1 1958: More
From the ArchivesStalin and Gottwald: together in life and death
When Joseph Stalin died on March 5 1953, it sent shockwaves round the
world. In Czechoslovakia his personality cult had been almost as
overwhelming as in the Soviet Union itself. At the time of his death, work
was already well under way to build the biggest statue of the Soviet
dictator in the world – unveiled two years later in Letná Park. Stalin
had a close ally and kindred spirit in the Czechoslovak President, Klement
Gottwald, and Gottwald ignored warnings from his doctors in order to attend
his friend and protector’s funeral. Before leading the Czechoslovak
delegation to Moscow, he had a few words for his country’s citizens. More
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