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Current AffairsOSCE conference in Prague addresses anti-Semitism in public discourse
Representatives of 56 member countries of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe met in Prague this week for a conference on
anti-Semitism in public discourse, hosted by the Czech Foreign Ministry.
The participants called for more decisive steps to combat expressions of
hatred and intolerance, and stressed the need for better data on
anti-Semitic incidents. RP talked to Rabbi Andrew Baker, the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating
Anti-Semitism, about the Prague meeting. More
One on OneDocumentary filmmaker Martin Šmok on a database of 52,000 testimonies of the Holocaust
The visual history archive of the Shoa Foundation of University of Southern
California contains more than 50,000 testimonies of holocaust survivors. A
year ago, Prague became one of three European locations where the complete
database can be accessed. The database should soon be extended by
testimonies from the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, that will also be
made accessible from the Czech capital. In this edition of One on One, RP
talked to the Czech filmmaker Martin Šmok, who works with the foundation
and even shot filmed of the material. More
Current AffairsJewish WWII veterans commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day
Several events were held in the Czech Republic on Thursday to commemorate
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the 66th anniversary of
the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Several Jewish veterans
and resistance workers from the Second World War met at Prague’s Czech
Centre on Thursday afternoon to pay tribute to the victims of the Shoa, and
to remember their fellow fighters. More
Current AffairsNew drama-doc on Nicholas Winton story premieres in Prague
A new drama-documentary premiered in Prague on Thursday evening about the
incredible story of Nicholas Winton. Called ‘Nicky’s Family’, the
film retells the story of the British man who saved hundreds of Jewish
children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. Winton was later
knighted for his efforts, and Sir Nicholas, now 101, was in Prague once
again to attend the premiere. More
Czech BooksPřemysl Pitter: the good fundamentalist
It is quite likely that you will never have heard of the Czech teacher,
religious thinker, pacifist and humanist, Přemysl Pitter, but he deserves
to be remembered as one of the great Czechs of the 20th century. Pitter
touched the lives of thousands, and his work helping children during and
just after the Second World War, matches the extraordinary achievements
Oskar Schindler. In a new biography of Přemysl Pitter, the writer and
journalist Pavel Kosatík puts his extraordinary life in context. We find
out more in Czech Books with David Vaughan. More
Special“The invisible hand”: what do Czechs believe in?
The medieval vaulted cellars of the Shakespeare and Sons bookshop offered
an atmospheric backdrop to the second of Radio Prague’s series of public
discussions, organized in cooperation with the Czech Literary Portal. The
discussion took place on December 9, in the middle of Advent and on the
last day of the Jewish holiday Chanukah – the festival of lights. We
asked the question: does the Czech Republic’s rich Christian and Jewish
legacy still have meaning in today’s secular state? Does and should this
legacy continue to define our ethical decisions? More
Current AffairsProject in which students map war-time fates of Jews in their locality marks ten years
For a decade now, Czech teenagers have been doing research into the fates
of Jewish people who lived in their localities before, during and after
World War II, as part of a project entitled “Neighbours Who
Disappeared”. Organisers say participants at schools around the country
have learned valuable lessons, and unearthed a lot of previously unknown
information. More
Czech BooksSidra Noach, a novel about Prague’s Jewish community in the time of floods
In the summer of the 2002, Prague was hit by one of the worst floods in the
city’s history. The swollen Vltava inundated parts of the historic
centre, including the Jewish quarter, which had to be evacuated. This
dramatic scene is the setting for the new Czech novel Sidra Noach by David
Jan Novotný. The name comes from the weekly readings from the scripture.
As it happened, the story of Noah was read in the synagogue just as the
waters began to recede.
More
Current AffairsPlans underway for first Czech museum dedicated to former German speaking minority
The first German speakers settled in the Czech lands in the 13th century,
and in the interwar period there were around three million ethnic Germans
in Czechoslovakia. That changed completely after World War II, when almost
all of them were forcibly expelled from the country. Now, however, their
history is being reclaimed – with plans to open the first museum in the
Czech Republic dedicated to the country’s former German minority.
More
Czech BooksPetr Ginz: a moving dramatization of a wartime diary
It is not often that school plays get to be performed at international
theatre festivals, still less so when it involves taking performers, props
and scenery hundreds of miles half way across a continent. But this is just
what happened when a group of teenagers from Britain brought a brand new
play to Prague’s Fringe Festival in 2008. And it was not by chance that
this play was brought to Prague. In this week’s Czech Books, David
Vaughan finds out more from the play’s author.
More
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