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Current AffairsMene Tekel festival commemorates the victims of communism
Last week, the first Mene Tekel festival dedicated to the history of
totalitarianism in this country was held in Prague to coincide with the
anniversary of the communist putsch in 1948. Taking its name from the
so-called writing on the wall, which appears in the Bible's Book of Daniel
and refers to the counting, considering and punishment of evil deeds, the
Mene Tekel festival aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the
oppression meted out by the communist regime in this country for more than
forty years.
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PanoramaA dream garden of a political prisoner
The story of Lubos Hruska is a remarkable tale of persecution and despair
but ultimate survival. Born in 1927 he was too young to play a role in
World War II, although he witnessed the bombing of Plzen and the
liberation of Czechoslovakia. His fight started after the war, when he
refused to sell his soul to the Communist regime and was punished. More
SpecialSpies Like Us: the return of Major Zeman
For many Czechs, the communist-era TV series "The Thirty Cases of
Major Zeman" still leaves a bad taste, a reminder of some of the
uglier excesses of the former regime. The series, largely ideological
propaganda, followed the adventures of Zeman, a detective hard at work to
uproot subversive and apparently criminal elements opposed to the
Communist state. For some, a decision by Czech TV to rebroadcast the
series a number of years ago still rankles. And although the affair
eventually died down, it is now, once again threatening to resurface, as a
Czech film company has promised to bring Major Zeman out of retirement.
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Current AffairsAnti-Nazi resistance hero, Rudolf Pernicky, dies aged 90
One of the most outstanding Czech fighters against Nazi rule during the
war, General Rudolf Pernicky, has passed away at the age of 90. A former
paratrooper who was later jailed by the Communist authorities and
rehabilitated only after the fall of the regime in 1989, died on Wednesday
after a long illness in the Central Military Hospital in Prague.
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PanoramaFrantisek Zahradka - from boyscout to 'class enemy' and a lifetime underground
Political prisoners had been forced to work the mines of Czechoslovakia
long before the Communists seized power in the "bloodless" coup
of February 1948. Under the direction of the hard-line Stalinist leader
Klement Gottwald, however, securing workers to unearth weapons-grade
uranium became policy; a top priority. The camps served two purposes: a
way to purge the land of "class enemies" and to build up the
atomic arsenal of the Soviet Union, when few could have guessed the
ideological
war with the West would remain a "cold" one. More
One on OneLadislav Koran - an athlete whose spirit remained unbroken after ten years in a Stalinist labour camp
Ladislav Koran is a Czech American whose life story is almost beyond
belief. As a young man he was an accomplished athlete and friend of the
greatest Czech runner of all time Emil Zatopek. He was still in his mid
twenties when the communists came to power and, like so many bright and
energetic young Czechs, he found himself on the wrong side of the new
regime. It was not long before he was arrested, and he went through ten
years of hell in a Stalinist labour camp. But even this did not break his
spirit and energy. Today, in the United States, where he settled after
going into exile with the Soviet invasion of 1968, he is still an active
athlete, and one of the most respected members of the Czech émigré
community. Ladislav Koran talks to David Vaughan.
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Current AffairsVojna Memorial a chilling reminder of 1950s communist horrors
An icy gale and drizzling rain pound upon new grass and gravel near the
Vojna Memorial: located in the Pribram region of Central Bohemia Vojna was
a prison camp that first housed Nazi criminals, then opponents of
Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Ironically, prisoners jailed there
included some of Czechoslovakia's finest, who had fought for their country
during the war, only to ultimately be branded as traitors and western
spies. Today, Vojna serves as a most chilling reminder of one of the
darkest chapters of Czechoslovak history. More
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