Archive: History | Czech-German relations Czech-German relations
Barbies and barbarity: exhibition takes novel approach to post-war massacres of Germans
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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