Archive: History | Czech-German relations Czech-German relations

Barbies and barbarity: exhibition takes novel approach to post-war massacres of Germans

06-02-2013 16:00 | Ian Willoughby

A new photography exhibition that gets underway in Prague on Thursday takes a novel approach to one of the thornier subjects in modern Czech history: the massacres that took place during the expulsion of millions Germans at the end of WWII. Photographer Lukáš Houdek has reconstructed some of those actual events – using Barbie and Ken dolls. Ahead of the opening of The Art of Killing, Houdek told me about how he prepared for the unusual project. More

The long shadow of Dr Beneš

02-02-2013 02:01 | Jan Richter

Edvard Beneš, photo: Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons The first ever direct presidential election brought renewed focus on a trauma that continues to haunt Czech society even sixty years after it occurred. The forced deportations of some three million Germans from Czechoslovakia after the end of WWII still divide Czech society, as does the historical role of Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš, who sanctioned the move. More

Jan Gebert - Maker of new documentary on battle over monument to murdered Germans

10-12-2012 16:28 | Ian Willoughby

'Stone Games' Efforts to commemorate ethnic Germans murdered by Czechs during a wave of post-war expulsions have frequently led to heated debate in this country. One such controversy is the subject of Jan Gebert’s debut documentary Stone Games, which follows a vocal campaign by a group of locals to remove a monument to eight Sudeten Germans killed in the north Bohemian town of Nový Bor in 1945. The protesters are led by an eccentric would-be politician – and their cause attracts the attention of national figures, including now presidential candidate Miloš Zeman. More

Rudolf Formis: a tale of murder, intrigue and radio in pre-war Prague

24-11-2012 02:01 | David Vaughan

Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-04051A / CC-BY-SA On 24 January 1935 one of the pioneers of radio in Germany was found lying in a pool of blood in a hotel room south of Prague. His story is one of the strangest and least known episodes in the years running up to WWII. In this week’s Czech Books, David Vaughan picks up the story. More

The East German refugees in Prague

04-08-2012 02:01 | David Vaughan

Photo: CTK For a few weeks in the late summer of 1989, Prague became the scene of a bizarre – and now largely forgotten - refugee crisis. It had all begun in the spring, when Hungary had declared its decision to take down the barbed wire on its borders with Austria. A growing number of East Germans, desperate at the suffocating lack of reform in their country, took advantage of this new gap in the Iron Curtain as a way of fleeing to the West. But smuggling themselves into Austria was an uncertain business, and before long, they started seeking refuge at the West German embassy in Budapest - and then in Prague. It was much closer to home than Hungary and easier to get to, as East German citizens did not need a visa. More

The Four Corners of the Czech Republic, Pt. II: The Sudetenland

31-07-2012 16:38 | Christian Falvey

Photo: www.hradek.cz On the one hand, defining one’s territory is said to be a basic human trait, and on the other there is nothing that comes so natural to people - when given a say - as to defy a boundary and explore the other side. The Czech/German/Polish tri-border is an excellent example of this. More

The Bohemian Quarter – a chapter of Czech history in the heart of Berlin

19-06-2012 15:05 | Sarah Borufka

Rixdorf, photo: Bohemian Museum in Rixdorf In the heart of Berlin’s Neukölln neighborhood is Rixdorf, an area that is also known as the Bohemian Village. The settlement originated in the first half of the 18th century, under the auspices of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I., who welcomed Bohemian Protestant refugees into his empire. In the Habsburg Empire, they had been banned from exercising their faith. We recently visited this fascinating area of Berlin and talked to Cordelia Pollina, the director of the Bohemian Museum, which is devoted to the history of this neighborhood. More

EU human rights court rules Czech state denied Kinský fair trial in property restitution case

10-02-2012 15:41 | Jan Richter

František Oldřich Kinský, photo: CTK The European Court of Human Rights denounced the Czech state for having denied a fair trial to František Oldřich Kinský, an Austrian aristocrat who sued the country over his property claims. The court said that Mr Kinský, who passed away nearly three years ago, had been subjected to abusive treatment by the Czech authorities when he sued to get back family property worth around 40 billion crowns. More

Svitavy – the birthplace of Oskar Schindler

19-10-2011 15:36 | Jan Richter

Svitavy You are not very likely to wander into Svitavy by chance. Located on both the major road and railway line connecting Moravia and eastern Bohemia, for most people Svitavy is just a name on their itinerary. But if you do come and take a closer look, you’ll find a little town proud of its past and working for a better future. Once an important town for Moravia’s textile industry, re-populated after the expulsion of Svitavy’s German speaking inhabitants, it only recently showed its pride in perhaps its most famous native personality – Oskar Schindler. More

A. J. P. Taylor: faith in socialist Czechoslovakia

08-10-2011 02:01 | David Vaughan

A. J. P. Taylor A. J. P. Taylor (1906-1990) was one of the best-known and most influential British historians of the 20th century. He is remembered in particular for his provocative left-wing political views and his conviction that German history made the country uniquely inclined towards aggression and expansionism. This made him an ardent opponent of attempts to rebuild Germany’s economy after the war, and a strong supporter of Czechoslovakia’s growing alliance with the Soviet Union. In July 1946, just after elections which saw the Communists emerge as the strongest single party, Taylor visited Czechoslovakia. More

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