Archive: History | Second World War Second World War
Commemoration of Romany Holocaust victims sparks controversy
Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas on Monday attended a commemorative
ceremony for the victims of the Romany Holocaust. At the site of a former
concentration camp in Lety, Mr Nečas admitted the Czech responsibility for
the murder of over 5,000 Romanies during the war. But the official event
sparked controversy among the Romany community which says the government
should first make sure the victims were giving a dignified memorial. More
No regrets - the life of war bride Lillian Schořová
The previous episode of Czech Life featured the first part of Lillian
Schořová’s life story. The 92-year-old Englishwoman is one of the
hundreds of English war brides who went home with their Czechoslovak
husbands after the war. Lillian came to Czechoslovakia with Josef, a
tankist from the armored brigade who was stationed in the United Kingdom,
in 1945. In this episode, she talks about her life after the war, her
difficulties learning Czech, her unusual career and how she feels today,
looking back on all the ups and downs of her adventurous life. More
Lillian Schořová: Part One - Love During Wartime
Only a handful of the hundreds of British women who moved to this part of
the world with their Czechoslovak husbands after World War II remain in the
Czech Republic. Many have died, while some returned home to the U.K.
decades ago. One of the few British war brides still living here is Lillian
Schořová, whose home is in North Bohemia. Radio Prague’s Sarah Borufka
visited her there for this episode of Czech Life. More
Czechs mark 70th anniversary of the destruction of Lidice
On Sunday Czechs marked the 70th anniversary one of the biggest tragedies
in the country’s history the extermination of Lidice village, the
Nazis’ brutal revenge for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the
Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia. The unprecedented massacre of
civilians, followed just two weeks later by the razing to the ground of a
second village, Ležáky, opened the eyes of the international community to
the true nature of the regime and to this day remains one of the most
powerful mementos of WWII. More
The literary legacy of Lidice
This weekend is the 70th anniversary of the Nazi destruction of the village
of Lidice. Shortly after the massacre, the British novelist Kathleen Hewitt
wrote: “The tragedy of Lidice is part of a tragedy so great that one
hesitates before daring to comment on it.” But she added that “words
are potent weapons, as it is of words that history is made.” Since the
Nazis tried to wipe Lidice from the map, many, many words have been written
about Lidice; it has captured the imagination of writers like few other
wartime atrocities, and dozens, perhaps hundreds, of novels, stories, poems
and essays have responded to the tragic events of the night from June 9 to
June 10 1942. David Vaughan looks at the literary legacy of Lidice. More
Exhibition on Heydrich assassination opens in Israeli Parliament
On occasion of the 70-year-anniversary of the Heydrich assassination, an
exhibition on the subject has opened in Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset.
While the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich is one of the most significant
events in modern Czech history, the story of how the governor of the
occupied Czech lands was killed is relatively unknown in Israel – despite
the fact that Heydrich was one of the main architects behind the Final
Solution. More
Czechs mark 70th anniversary of Heydrich assassination
A series of events held in Prague and elsewhere over the weekend marked the
70th anniversary of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a top ranking
Nazi official and the ruler of the occupied Czech lands. While dozens of
people came to see a reconstruction of the assassination, a mock
concentration camp was erected in central Prague in the memory of the
victims of Nazi retaliation. More
Prague & Lima mark 90 years of diplomatic relations with donation of historic tank
Prague and Lima have been marking the 90th anniversary of diplomatic
relations this week through a number of events, including a ceremony in
Lima preceding the return of an historic Czechoslovak-built tank to the
Czech Republic. The LTP 38, as it is known, was built for Peru in the
1930s, designed specifically for high terrain. Originally, there were 24 of
the armoured fighting vehicles. More
Israeli author Tom Segev launches Czech translation of his Simon Wiesenthal biography
The Israeli author Tom Segev is in Prague to launch the Czech translation
of his acclaimed biography of the Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal. Entitled
Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends, Tom Segev’s latest work offers a
critical yet compassionate look at the complicated man who devoted his life
to tracking down Nazi criminals. Radio Prague spoke to Tom Segev during his
Prague visit, and asked him how different the real Simon Wiesenthal was
from the myths he himself helped create. More
Jerri Zbiral: finding a new path to Lidice
Anniversaries give us the chance to think again about the meaning of events
and their relevance today. Next month it will be exactly 70 years since the
destruction by the Nazis of the Czech village of Lidice in June 1942. The
facts and figures are well known, and even in the shadow of huge numbers
later killed in the Holocaust, still remain shocking: 340 people were
murdered, including 88 children and all but two of the men of the village.
They were killed systematically and in cold blood in a calculated attempt
by the SS to prevent Czech insurgency. The extent to which Lidice later
became a tool of communist propaganda, using rhetoric that equated Nazi
Germany with the “West”, is also well known, and for many Czechs, the
memory of Lidice still remains tainted by this legacy. So what can Lidice
mean to us today, now that all but a handful of the survivors are no longer
with us and with memories of both Nazism and Communism fading? David
Vaughan brings us a special programme. More
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