Special Czech-British author Benjamin Kuras on the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia and the difficulty of returning 'home'
Czech-born British author and journalist Benjamin Kuras was one of many expatriates who witnessed the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia from abroad. Ahead of autumn 1989, he and colleagues at the BBC’s Czech section regularly speculated over when change would finally come. But when it happened in the days and months after November 17, the developments presented a new dilemma for those who had left in 1968 or earlier. New questions came to the fore such as when to visit, whether to go back at all, and if so, how to tackle one’s “ghosts”. In this interview, Jan Velinger asked the writer (who still divides his time between the Czech Republic and Great Britain) how he saw the months preceding the “fall”.
Benjamin Kuras
Back
