Archive: History | Communism Communism
Twenty years after: central and eastern Europe coping with communist legacy
How are countries of central and Eastern Europe coping with their communist
legacies? Have their societies done well in the transition to democracy
over the last two decades? And why do so many people in this region feel
nostalgic towards the totalitarian past? And in what ways is the Czech
Republic different from other ex-communist states countries in the region?
These and other issues were the focus of an international conference “20
Years After” that took place in Prague last week.
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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.
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September 30 marks 20th anniversary of dramatic announcement that East German refugees in Prague could emigrate to West
Two decades ago the attention of the world’s media was on the West German
Embassy in a normally quiet corner of Prague, where thousands of East
Germans were living in a makeshift camp, desperate to escape from
communism. On the 30th of September, 1989 the then West German foreign
minister made a dramatic announcement: those refugees were free to emigrate
to the West.
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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
Guests at the Castle: Frank Zappa and the Pope
During Václav Havel’s first year as Czechoslovak president, Prague
Castle saw a string of visitors from around the world. And they did not
just include heads of state and other political dignitaries. On January 21
1990, one of the first foreign guests to be received by the new president
was none other than the legendary American rock musician, Frank Zappa, who
had been one of the inspirations for the Czech underground movement in the
‘70s and ‘80s, including Havel himself.
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Dramatic events of 1989 captured in new photography exhibition
The Year 1989 through the Eyes of Photographers is the title of a new
exhibition that has just got underway at Prague’s Old Town Hall. It
brings together around 300 photographs capturing events preceding the fall
of communism in Czechoslovakia, and the drama of the Velvet Revolution
itself. Daniela Mrázková of Czech Press Photo is the exhibition’s
curator. More
A new president addresses his fellow citizens
On December 29 1989, Czechoslovakia’s Federal Parliament elected Václav
Havel as the country’s president. In one of the many paradoxes of the
Velvet Revolution, this was the same communist-dominated parliament that
had previously fought so hard to stem the flow of change.
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Saint Agnes joins the revolution
In last week’s From the Archives, we heard Jaroslav Hutka, singing at the
huge demonstration that took place in Prague’s Letná park on November 25
1989. This was over a week after the Velvet Revolution had begun, but the
hard liners in the communist party were still clinging on to power. The
demonstration was a sign of the huge momentum for change that had built up
in the previous days, and despite the cold weather, with sleet and snow, it
was attended by nearly a million people.
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1989 student defamation case still unresolved after eighteen years in court
The wheels of Czech justice are famously slow to turn, with court cases
dragging on for what seems like – and often is – years. But how about
this one for size: in the early days of the Velvet Revolution, in November
1989, three students of architecture described their Communist professor as
an arrogant careerist and demagogue. He later demanded an apology, and took
them to court. Twenty years on, and the case is still unresolved.
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Leader of student resistance to 1948 Communist takeover Josef Lesák dies at 88
Josef Lesák, a leader of the student resistance to the Communist takeover
of Czechoslovakia in 1948, has passed away at the age of 88. Lesák was
also the youngest deputy in the country’s parliament when the Communists
seized power – and became the first MP they put in prison.
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