No Night So Dark

In the previous episode we saw the impact of the German occupation on the once rich life of the Wels family. We saw how Rudolf, Ida and Martin sought comfort in the letters they managed to exchange with Tomáš in England, and in their friendship with the Štifter family in Prague.

In the previous episode we followed the career of the architect Rudolf Wels along with his wife Ida and their two sons Tomáš and Martin. We joined the family in 1930s Prague, where they lived in a smart new flat designed by Rudolf himself.

Welcome to Part 5 of our serial No Night So Dark, tellling the story of five generations of the Wels family. In the previous episode we followed Rudolf Wels through his childhood in rural Bohemia and heard how his father Šimon battled against prejudice to give his children the best possible education.

Welcome to Part Four of our serial No Night So Dark, telling the remarkable story of five generations of the Wels family.  Last week we visited the village of Osek and met the courageous Josefína, who undertook an epic journey on foot in 1838, so she could marry the man she loved.  With Josefína’s great-great-grandson Colin, we went back to the village over 150 years later. We also heard the dramatic story of how Colin’s father Tomáš smuggled himself out of Prague in 1939.

We continue with the third episode of our serial No Night So Dark, in which we follow the story of a remarkable Czech Jewish family over five generations. In the previous episode, we travelled in time to the village of Osek in the 19th century and the world evoked by Šimon Wels in his memoir. We joined Šimon’s son Rudolf and his family in cosmopolitan Prague at the end of the 1930s, and we returned to the present day, to meet Rudolf’s grandson Colin, as he pieces together his family’s past.

We continue our seven-part serial No Night So Dark, telling the remarkable story of the Wels family.  In Part 1 we got to know the teenage Martin Wels and his parents in Prague a few weeks after the beginning of World War Two. And we met Martin’s nephew Colin, who eighty years later is piecing together the fragments of his family’s past from his home in England.

This seven-part serial explores a family’s search for its own past, a past that was all but lost in the storm of 20th century history. There is drama and tragedy, but also humour and romance, as we travel through time and space, piecing together 150 years in the life of a remarkable Czech family.

Here is a trailer to give you a flavour of our new series starting on Saturday 27 February that tells the story of five generations of a remarkable Czech Jewish family.