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Czech BooksDocumenting the tragic human stories behind the Nazi confiscation of artinBohemia and Moravia

09-09-2007 | David Vaughan

The Museum of Applied Arts in Prague's Old Town houses some impressive collections, including porcelain, jewelry, clocks, furniture and costume. It is one of the city's most popular museums, and its collections bear witness to Central Europe's rich cultural history. But behind each exhibit there is also at least one human story, and a new book, called 'Navraty pameti' or 'bringing back memory' reminds us that these stories can sometimes be tragic. The book maps the several hundred artifacts in the museum's collections that had belonged to Jewish owners before the German occupation in World War Two. During the war, property belonging to anyone not considered racially pure was confiscated with an obsessive thoroughness, and the great majority of the rightful owners perished in the Holocaust. More

Czechs in HistoryThe short-lived legacy of industrial giant Emil Kolben

11-04-2007 13:34 | Dita Asiedu

Emil Kolben In this edition of Czechs in History, we reflect on the life and work of Emil Kolben. He was born on November 1, 1862, to a Jewish family in the little village of Strancice near Prague and became one of the most important electrical engineers, inventors, and industrial giants in Czechoslovakia.  More

Current AffairsCzech WWII resistance fighters' remains may still be in use at German medical faculties

23-11-2005 14:48 | Brian Kenety

Photo: MFDnes, 22.11.05 The corpses of some of Czechoslovakia's most celebrated war heroes may be serving as models in anatomy classes in Germany and Austria to this day. Thousands of political prisoners were murdered at the Ploetzensee detention and execution centre outside Berlin during WWII. Among them were nearly seven hundred Czech and Slovak resistance fighters, whose bodies were immediately sent on to medical universities and institutions within the Third Reich. More

SpecialPremysl Pitter - a forgotten Czech Schindler

21-06-2005 13:09 | David Vaughan

Premysl Pitter Thanks to Steven Spielberg the name of Oskar Schindler is known the world over, but this programme is about an almost forgotten contemporary of Schindler, who deserves a similar place in history. In the course of the tumultuous 20th century, Premysl Pitter, born in Prague in 1895, did more than perhaps anyone else to help children - Czech, German and Jewish - through some of the most horrific moments of European history.  More

One on OneSusanne Medas - one of the original 'kindertransport' children remembers the loss of her parents following the tragic events of 1938

24-05-2005 14:01 | Jan Velinger

Susanne Medas In today's One on One Jan Velinger's guest is Susanne Medas, a British citizen of German-Czech-Jewish descent who is a sprightly 81, but still regularly visits the Czech Republic to teach English. She has been coming back since the early 90s even if returning means a certain coming to terms with the past. In her youth Susanne was lucky to escape following the Nazi occupation, one of the children saved through Nicholas Winton's famous kindertransports. But, although she escaped, she never saw her parents again. In this One on One she tells the story of her parents and their fate. More

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