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PanoramaJosefina Napravilová: an unsung Czech hero
In the days and weeks that followed the end of the Second World War,
31-year-old Josefina Napravilová noticed that there was a job that needed
to be done and without any fuss set about doing it. It was a time of chaos
– families had been broken up and the lists of missing persons were
frighteningly long. Many of those on the lists were children. Through sheer
determination and endless detective work, Josefina Napravilová managed to
reunite several dozen of these children with their families. For decades,
Josefina saw no particular reason to tell people about her achievements,
and only now has the full story been coming to light.
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Czech BooksDocumenting the tragic human stories behind the Nazi confiscation of artinBohemia and Moravia
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 HistoryA personal look at Otakar Machotka, a leader of the 1945 Prague Uprising
There is an old framed photograph in my parents' house, which I have known
since childhood. In the foreground, you can see the back of the head of
Edvard Benes, the second President of Czechoslovakia. And bowing forward
to shake the president's hand is a distinguished-looking man with shiny
matinee-idol hair and a neatly-folded kerchief in his pocket. That's
Otakar Machotka, my grandfather. More
SpecialHedy Fromings - part 2
Hedy Fromings was born Hedvika Honigenova in 1926. In the late 1940s she
left Czechoslovakia, moving to the UK - where she had spent the war years
- with her English husband. To maintain ties with her home country she
became an active member of the British Czech Friendship League and a
spin-off organisation, the Beskydy Dancers music and dance group; she
eventually became the leader of the latter almost three decades ago.
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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
Women in WarA hidden transmitter spelled death
My grandmother Marie Velingerova, the daughter of a Czech industrialist,
was 27 years-old when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in March of 1939:
like most Czechs, she was filled with dread. Married, a mother of two, she
worked as a clerk at her family's store, and for some time life went on as
normal. Then came the assassination of the Nazi
"reichsprotektor" Reinhard Heydrich by Czech patriots. Here she
recalls the mood that day and some personal events that followed.
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SpecialCzechs in the Red Army
...At midday the Russians launched an almighty attack on Hrabyne, their air
force led the barrage. From over the hills a whole chain of Russian tanks
approached. The Germans retaliated with a desperate counter attack. This
was the start of a terrible panzer battle, which is impossible to imagine
for those who weren't there. The din of anti-tank weaponry, the explosion
of grenades and the baying of the tanks' machine guns fused into one.
There was a constant explosion of bombs and mines. The battle lasted all
afternoon. Several times the Russians retreated only to come back again on
the attack...
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