Section Archive From the Archives
Breaking down the psychological walls
Over the last two years we have listened to sounds from the Czech Radio
archives going back over eighty years. In this, the last of the series, we
look at two of the big events of the last decade - the Czech Republic’s
accession to NATO and then, five years later, to the European Union. We
start with NATO, which the Czech Republic joined in March 1999 along with
Hungary and Poland. In 2002 Prague hosted a major NATO summit, at which
seven further Eastern and Central European countries were invited to join.
At the summit, President Václav Havel gave one of his rare speeches in
English. Here is an extract: More
War in the Balkans splits Czech political opinion
While the split of Czechoslovakia happened quietly and almost unnoticed,
the situation in Yugoslavia could hardly have been more different. There
had always been close links between the two countries, and Czechs and
Slovaks were deeply shocked as Yugoslavia sank into civil war. In an
interview for Radio Prague in 1993, the head of the Euro-Atlantic Section
of the Czech Foreign Ministry, Ivan Bušniak, pointed to some of the two
countries’ historical bonds:
More
Neighbours in a foreign country: a new border divides villages in two
After the split of Czechoslovakia at the beginning of 1993, Radio Prague
devoted several programmes to the impact of the new border on ordinary
people’s lives. For most, life stayed much the same, but the split did
have a very real impact on people living close to the border, and on Czechs
living in Slovakia or vice versa. Here is one Slovak student, settled in
the Czech Republic, talking to Radio Prague a few months after the split: More
What’s in a name? Radio Prague and the split of Czechoslovakia
One of the more curious aspects of Radio Prague in the early 1990s was that
the station’s name kept changing. In 1991, for no particular reason, we
stopped calling ourselves Radio Prague and became Radio Prague
International. Then, at the beginning of 1992, in order to seem less Prague
and Czech centred, we became Radio Czechoslovakia. The change was largely
cosmetic, because the great majority of programmes, with the exception of a
daily commentary sent from Bratislava, continued to come from the Czech
part of the federation.
More
No more borders for collies: changing canine lifestyles after ‘89
In the early 1990s it wasn’t just political change that was on Radio
Prague’s agenda. In many ways the social changes under way at the time
were just as radical. Dogs had always been popular in Czechoslovakia, and
in 1992 - by which time I had been working at Radio Prague for about a year
- I had a look at how life for dog owners and breeders was changing,
starting in Kampa Park in Prague’s ancient Lesser Quarter, where I
persuaded a fox terrier owned by an enthusiastic old lady in a fur coat, to
give me a sound effect. Here is an extract from that programme: More
Czechoslovakia in 1991: What to do with former secret police collaborators?
One of the most passionate debates in Czechoslovakia in the first years
after the fall of communism was over what to do with people who had
collaborated with the secret police – the StB – or had held prominent
functions in the Communist Party. In 1991 the so-called “screening law”
was passed, under which former StB collaborators were prevented from
holding certain senior posts – for example in academia or in the civil
service. At the time Radio Prague invited two Czech politicians into the
studio: the left-of-centre member of the Federal Parliament, Jan Kavan, and
the leader of the small right-wing Conservative Party, Jiří Kotas. Here
is an extract from the debate, starting with Jiří Kotas, who was strongly
in favour of the law: More
Foreign capital reaches post-revolution Czechoslovakia
With the fall of communism, it was not long before foreign investors began
taking an interest in Czechoslovakia. This ranged from huge industrial
multinationals to young college graduates, who arrived in Prague with
backpacks in the early 1990s, and happened to spot a business opportunity.
Many burned their fingers; some made a quick buck and disappeared, and
others settled down and stayed here for good. In 1991, Radio Prague
interviewed a few of these pioneering investors. More
The Virgin and Child in the battle against Hitler
Last week I promised some recordings from Radio Prague in the early 1990s,
but I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a break in our chronological
journey through the archives, to play a recording that has special
relevance this week. On Monday Pope Benedict visited the town of Stará
Boleslav just outside Prague, famous for its links with the early days of
Christianity in the Czech Lands. During his stay he prayed at an extremely
rare medieval icon of the Virgin and Child, cast in metal and said to date
back to the days of Princess Ludmila in the 10th century. The icon, known
as the “Palladium” traditionally protects the Czech nation from danger. More
Radio Prague goes back on air
For a few weeks just after the fall of communism, Radio Prague went silent.
Its days as a tool in the Cold War were over. After huge staff cuts, and
with the old communist managers gone, Radio Prague went back on air early
in 1990. A new era began for the English Section, and with so many sweeping
social and economic changes under way, there was plenty to report about. More
George Bush Sr. tolls a bell for Czechoslovakia
On November 17 1990, the first anniversary of the beginning of the Velvet
Revolution, George Bush Sr. became the first American president to visit
Czechoslovakia in the country’s 70-year history. This was a time of
strong pro-American feeling here, and during their brief stay George and
Barbara Bush were welcomed with genuine enthusiasm. Over a hundred thousand
people gathered on Wenceslas Square to hear the president speak: More
+1
+10
