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From the ArchivesPrague Uprising: “Do not let Prague be destroyed!”
In last week’s From the Archives we heard about radio’s central role in
the Prague Uprising against the German occupation at the end of World War
II. Not only did the signal for the uprising to begin come over the air,
but the radio also helped to co-ordinate the fighting. It also played a
third role. At the time the Red Army was already approaching Prague from
the east, and General Patton’s Third Army was in Plzeň just a few dozen
kilometres to the west. Many of those fighting in the streets of Prague
were untrained and had few weapons, and the scale of the German resistance,
especially the SS units, took many by surprise. The radio appealed to the
Americans, British and Russians for help.
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From the Archives“Calling all Czechs!”: the Prague Uprising begins
“Calling all Czechs! Come quickly to our aid! Calling all Czechs!” It
is May 5 1945, and with these words Prague radio appeals to Czechs to join
the uprising against the German occupation. This was to be one of the last
European battles of World War Two and the greatest moment in the history of
Czechoslovak Radio. For some time radio staff had been working secretly
with the Czech underground to prepare the ground for the uprising. Their
radio appeal marked the beginning of the battle. In the confusion of the
following three days with street battles going on around the city, radio
was to play an important role, and the radio building also became the focus
of much of the fighting. On some recordings that survive you can still
clearly hear gunfire in the background.
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Current AffairsCzechs commemorate anniversary of Prague Uprising
On May 5 1945, Czech Radio or Český Rozhlas formally turned against the
Nazi German government occupying the country and called on protesters to
openly oppose Nazi rule. Today marks the 63rd anniversary of this
incident,
which ultimately led to the liberation of the Czech lands from Nazi rule. More
Current AffairsAntonin Sum, secretary to post-war foreign minister Jan Masaryk, dies in Prague at 87
Antonin Sum, who was secretary to the post-war Czechoslovak foreign
minister Jan Masaryk, has died in Prague at the age of 87. Sum, who was
born in Prague and studied law at Charles University, was active in the
anti-Nazi resistance during the war. After working at the office of the
government for two years, in 1947 he became the secretary of Jan Masaryk,
a man with whom his fate was ever afterwards entwined.
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Current AffairsA Scottish hero of the Prague Uprising remembers
The appeal "Volame vsechny Cechy" - calling all Czechs - is
probably the best known recording in Czech Radio's archive. A radio
announcer calls on Czechs to rise up against the German occupation. The
date is the 5th May 1945, in the dying days of the war, and the broadcast
marked the beginning of the Prague Uprising. In three days of fighting,
over three thousand Czechs lost their lives, before the Red Army finally
entered the city. Much of the fighting took place right here, in the radio
building in Vinohradska Street. This Friday, as every year, wreathes
were laid by the main entrance, to remember those who gave their lives.
But
not all those who helped to build the barricades in those dramatic days
were Czech, as David Vaughan reports. More
Current AffairsGunfire at the radio - sixty years on
Exactly 60 years ago, on 5th May 1945, the Prague Uprising against the
German occupiers began here in the very building that houses Radio Prague.
"Calling all Czechs" went the now legendary appeal over the
airwaves, as defiant radio journalists here at our headquarters in
Vinohradska Street, called on the people of Prague to rise up against
their occupiers. In the three days that followed over 2,000 Czechs lost
their lives in intense street fighting that focused more than anywhere
else on the radio building.
More
Czechs in HistoryThe life and death of Jan Masaryk
Jan Masaryk was the son of Czechoslovakia's first president T.G. Masaryk.
Like his father, he would come be defined by his service for his country,
working as both a diplomat and later as foreign minister during some of
Czechoslovakia's darkest days. Following the Second World War he witnessed
the 1948 Communist coup that ended hopes of a return to democracy in
Czechoslovakia and paved the way for forty years of oppressive rule. More
Czechs in History"Calling all Czechs, calling all Czechs!" - the Prague Uprising remembered
Last week marked the 59th anniversary of the final days that led-up to the
end of the Second World War. In Bohemia those fateful days were defined by
the Prague Uprising, which saw some 30, 000 take up arms in the Czech
capital against their German occupiers. Though the Nazi grip on Bohemia
and Moravia began to weaken, the threat of newer Nazi atrocities grew with
every passing hour.
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