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Current AffairsChamber of Deputies exhibition honours Jewish Czechs and Slovaks who fought Hitler from 1939-1945
In the years from 1939-1945, thousands of Jewish Czechs and Slovaks fought
against the Nazis around the world, some within the armies that were
resisting Hitler, and others in the underground. Twenty-six panels of
photographs and other archive materials documented their lives and
activities at Prague's Chamber of Deputies. The exhibition featured a part
of Czechoslovak history that most Czechs know little about. More
SpecialPremysl Pitter - a forgotten Czech Schindler
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.
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One on OneSusanne Medas - one of the original 'kindertransport' children remembers the loss of her parents following the tragic events of 1938
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
Current Affairs"Since Then I Believe in Fate": remembering the transports of Czech Jews to the Baltic States
Memorial ceremonies were held over the weekend at the Nazi concentration
camps of Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrueck, to mark the
sixtieth anniversary of their liberation. The names of these and other
camps where millions were murdered have become embedded in our memory. But
there were also smaller camps, scattered throughout German occupied
Europe,
places of terror that have been all but forgotten. The Jewish Museum in
Prague has just opened a moving exhibition following the fate of Czech
Jews, who in 1942 were transported to camps in the Nazi occupied Baltic
States of Latvia and Estonia. Jarka Halkova's report begins with one
survivor, remembering what it was like, waking up each morning. More
Current AffairsCzech students to help find Jewish children saved from Nazis
Sir Nicholas Winton has come to be known as Britain's Oskar Schindler. In
the weeks after the Nazis occupied the Czech Lands in March 1939, he
quietly arranged for the safe passage of more than 650 Jewish children to
Britain. Today children learn about his story, and, as Kate Barrette now
reports, are even adding a chapter of their own.
More
One on OneIntroducing Chava Pressburger
Many of you will have heard of Petr Ginz, the young talented Jewish boy
from Prague who came to be known to the world almost sixty years after he
perished at Auschwitz. A copy of his painting "Moon Landscape"
was on board the Columbia space shuttle when it exploded in 2003. In the
Czech Republic, Petr Ginz was honoured last month with a special stamp
released by the Czech Postal Service. His younger sister Chava
Pressburger, now 75, is a painter and lives in Israel. This year, she
published "The Diary of my Brother" featuring recently
discovered diaries that Petr had written at the age of fourteen in Prague.
Chava, born Eva Ginz, is our guest today in One on One:
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One on OneProfessor Tomas Radil - memories still fresh of Auschwitz liberation
Tomas Radil was thirteen and a half when he was sent to Auschwitz with his
family, after they were deported from their home town of Parkany - now
Sturovo in Slovakia - in the spring of 1944. Most of his relatives were
murdered, only his father survived. He was one of several thousand inmates
who witnessed the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army on January 27th,
1945. A retired psychologist and neurologist, Professor Radil shared with
Rob Cameron some of his memories of Auschwitz and the camp's liberation.
More
ArtsCollaborators, heroes and victims: the Holocaust as portrayed in Czech film
Czechoslovakia as well as other Central European countries had a large
Jewish community before the Second World War. Many of its Jewish citizens
perished in concentration camps and survivors had to face up to the
horrors of what they had been through. Many also felt a need to tell
others about what had happened in the death camps. This helped to
originate a lot of good films in post-war Czechoslovakia.
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