Section Archive Panorama
Great WWII pilot Karel Kuttelwascher remembered by his home town
On September 1, the world remembered the outbreak of the worst conflict in
history. For Czechs, however, the war started earlier than September 1939.
By the time Nazi troops stormed Poland and France and the UK declared war
on Germany, thousands of Czechs had already left their country, ready to
join the fight against the Nazis. One of them was Karel Kuttelwascher, who
became a famous night fighter with the RAF, and the most successful Czech
fighter pilot of the war. Recently his daughters came from England and
together with the people of his native town marked the 50th anniversary of
Karel Kuttlewascher’s death.
More
Stanley Povoda – the Czech Republic’s number one robot-maker
Stanley ‘Robotman’ Povoda is the father of Czech robotics. After over
half a century of bringing people’s old colanders, chandeliers and
vacuum
cleaners to life, Stanley has just become the subject of his first
retrospective in Prague’s Trafačka Gallery. Stanley (real name Marián)
Povoda has been back in the Czech Republic for five years now, after
spending most of his life in exile in North America. On a recent tour of
his new show, Stanley told me where his passion for robots began: More
UFOs over Czech skies do battle with sceptics
Last weekend there were reports from around the country of strange lights
in the sky, flying about, flaring up, flaring out, chasing each other.
It’s true, unidentified flying objects do not just swerve by the Czech
Republic on their way to the States, they are here too; and if you thought
the Czechs too sceptical to notice, you were as wrong as I was. And last
weekend wasn’t the first time. More
Rabbi Loew, the Jewish hero of the Czechs
“Path of Life” is the name of a new exhibition by the Jewish Museum in
Prague marking 400 years since the death of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, a
16th century scholar and teacher, the Chief Rabbi of Bohemia. Today, most
Czechs remember him not only for being a wise man and a learned scholar,
but primarily for being the legendary creator of the Golem, a mythical deed
that earned him the status of a national hero.
More
Hard-De-Core – A unique fashion boutique on Prague’s Senovážné Square
The last few years have seen the emergence of highly-original fashion
designers offering not more of the same but elegant and sporty, sleek while
edgy garments that are both playful and surprising. Hard-De-Core, a
boutique, workshop and gallery co-founded by illustrator, costume and
fashion designer Josefina Bakošová has quickly become a popular address
on Prague’s Senovážné náměstí and rightfully so: at a reasonable
price you can buy gorgeous items – from original dresses to fab jewelry
one would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
More
People in Need at work in the Congo, part II
Writers often call just about any country a “land of striking
contrasts”. In the Eastern Congo the main, inescapable contrast is that
of joy and grief. As we arrived in the town of Bunyakiri a noisy
procession
was celebrating the birth of a child, while not far off, in a makeshift
classroom on the other side of town, 26 health workers are being trained
under the auspices of the Czech charity People in Need to deal with the
gravest of tasks. More
People in Need at work in the Congo, part I
Czechs are working in crisis spots around the globe, predominantly through
the charity foundation People in Need. Some of the people most truly in
need of that aid are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose
eastern
conflict was largely unknown in the Czech Republic until a few people who
thought they could help came in and started doing so. More
Džíny, hamburgry and komputry: is Czech under threat from English?
‘English is attacking Czech from all sides’ one newspaper columnist
recently despaired, while others talk of Czech’s ‘battle for
survival’ in a world in which ever more English is spoken. From terms
like ‘setobox’, ‘vygooglovat’ and ‘mobil’ on the one hand to
words like ‘sorry’, ‘byzy’ and ‘lůzr’ on the other, English
does seem to be making an impact on today’s Czech. But are these English
borrowings really a threat to the Czech language, or do they enrich it
instead? I asked some Czechs for their opinion:
More
Teaching in a changing society
For Panorama this week we go back to school, visiting a class of 12- and
13-year-olds at the grammar school in the old town of Havlíčkův Brod,
about a hundred kilometres south-east of Prague. We are here to find out
more about a pioneering teaching project that has been made possible thanks
to the enlightened attitude of the local town hall, which gave financial
support.
More
‘Razz or jock?’ – Czech and South African musicians launch genre-defying new album
The Jonathan Crossley Band is what you get when you ask two Czechs and
three South Africans to make a mixture of rock and jazz. The outcome is
being warmly received by crowds from Prague to Pretoria. Since they formed
a year and a half ago, the group has toured Europe, Africa and beyond and,
on a recent trip to Johannesburg - part funded by the Czech Foreign
Ministry - the band recorded its first album, called ‘Got Funk, Will
Travel’.
More
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