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Current AffairsLocal authorities and private owners unite to promote Orlicke hory mountains
The Pardubice and the Hradec Kralove regions have always been great rivals.
However now, the rivalry seems to have cooled, after representatives from
both areas got together to create a joint campaign aimed at attracting
tourists to the nearby Orlicke hory mountains. More
Current AffairsCzechs living abroad discuss the dirty dealings of restitution
Many Czechs who emigrated in the second half of the 20th century, never
dreamed that their homeland would see the end of communism, let alone have
the opportunity to get their stolen property back. Though it's been 14
years since the Velvet Revolution, emotions over past property and
belongings are still vivacious. This was apparent at the Conference for
Czechs Living Abroad, in which thirty-two countries were represented by
individuals, their lawyers, and representatives from various independent
Czech and Slovak associations. The issue of property restitutions was the
main focus last Friday.
More
Talking PointThe "Benes decrees" - a historian's point of view
During the past few years, the two words "Benes decrees" have
been ubiquitous in the Czech media. Most recently the term has been used
in connection with the case of Franz Ulrich Kinsky, a member of an
aristocratic family with long roots in Bohemia, who has filed a total of
157 lawsuits asking the Czech courts to confirm that he is the rightful
owner of large amounts of property which were confiscated from him as a
child after the war. The so-called "Benes decrees" that
politicians, journalists, lawyers and property claimants frequently refer
to, are in simple terms usually described as "post-war legislation
that sanctioned the expulsion of ethnic Germans and Hungarians from
Czechoslovakia and the confiscation of their property". But of
course, matters are much more complex. Historian Jan Kuklik, who is
assistant professor at the law faculty in Prague, specialises in the
history of law. I spoke to him about the origins of the so-called
"Benes decrees".
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Current AffairsCzech government left reeling in wake of Kinsky court verdict
Senior Czech officials held high-level talks over the weekend to discuss
the return of property confiscated after the war from Franz Ulrich Kinsky,
a member of an aristocratic family with long roots in Bohemia. The case
goes to the very heart of the post-war Benes decrees, still a highly
emotive subject in the Czech Republic. Rob Cameron has been following the
case and joins me in the studio now: Rob, who is Franz Kinsky?
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