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Current AffairsNew website collects testimonies of witnesses of 20th century history
Three major Czech institutions have joined together to launch a unique
website called Paměť národa or Memory of the Nation. It will give the
public and scholars access to an archive of personal memories of 20th
century history, including the horrors of the Holocaust and communist
persecution. The materials are gathered by individuals, non-profit
organisations and other institutions across Europe and they are accessible
to the general public.
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Current AffairsInstitute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes maps lives of Czechs executed by Communists
On Tuesday, the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
announced a new project on its website, posting the biographies of
individuals who were brutally sentenced to death by Czechoslovakia’s
Communists. Using archive material, the site has so far examined the lives
of some 19 individuals, who, like Milada Horákova, were executed on
trumped up charges of treason. More
Current AffairsCzech state honours for foreign dissidents who protested against 1968 invasion
Soviet propaganda described the invasion of Czechoslovakia as “brotherly
help” to a nation threatened by “counter-revolutionary forces”, and
the Warsaw Pact forces that occupied the country in August 1968 came from
Russia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. But not all the
citizens of those countries agreed with the invasion, and several of them
risked their lives to protest against Moscow’s crackdown. On Thursday,
nine of them received medals in gratitude from Czech prime minister Mirek
Topolánek.
More
Current AffairsOlympic Watch calling on athletes to take a public stand on human rights issues
The eyes of the world are on Beijing where the 2008 Olympic Games get
underway with a grand opening ceremony on Friday night. Ten thousand
sportspeople from 205 countries are taking part. Millions of people have
traveled to Beijing to witness what the Chinese promise to be the grandest
spectacle in Olympic history. Yet there are also many who are boycotting
the games and drawing attention to the situation in Tibet and the extent of
human rights violations in China. Olympic Watch, a human rights
organization set up in Prague in 2001, has called on national Olympic teams
to “adopt” China’s political prisoners and find some way of
expressing public support for them. I spoke earlier to Petr Kutílek of
Olympic Watch to find out more about the campaign:
More
Current AffairsOlympic Watch urges athletes, politicians to “adopt” China’s prisoners of conscience
The eyes of the world are on Beijing where athletes have been arriving for
the 2008 Olympic games due to begin this coming Friday. And as the opening
ceremony nears human rights activists around the world are stepping up the
pressure on the Chinese regime, demanding greater openness and the release
of all prisoners of conscience. More
Current AffairsCzech Republic marks anniversary of 1948 communist putsch
It was 60 years ago Monday, that Czech President Edvard Beneš, under
enormous pressure, capitulated and appointed a communist government led by
Klement Gottwald. This event, known as the February putsch is viewed by
many as a tragic blunder on the part of the president – had he stood
firm, and not accepted the resignations of the non-communist parties in
the
government, which outnumbered the communists, the ascendancy of one party
rule may have been averted. More
Current AffairsMock prison camp on Wenceslas Square to jog memories of communist past
It's eighteen years since the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism in
Czechoslovakia, so if you're walking through the centre of Prague in the
next ten days you might be surprised to stumble across a communist-era
prison camp just a few metres from the McDonalds on Wenceslas Square. The
mock camp is actually an exhibition to remind Czechs of the 8,000 people
who died in prison camps and uranium mines during the communist era.
More
Current AffairsTrial begins of former prosecutor who helped send Milada Horakova to gallows
On Tuesday a court in Prague began hearing the case against Ludmila
Brozova-Polednova, the last living participant in one of the most
notorious
show trials of communist-era Czechoslovakia. In 1950, Mrs
Brozova-Polednova
was a 29-year-old prosecutor who helped condemn the democratic politician
Milada Horakova to death. Now 86, she is being tried as an accomplice to
murder. More
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