Radio Prague International - latest articles

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Lidice tragedy, the Czech village razed to the ground by the Nazis in 1942 as revenge for the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich. 340 people were murdered, including 88 children. For the last 50 years, an international children’s art competition has taken place to commemorate the child victims, and now a special exhibition comprised of some of the best entries from over the years has opened in Paris to mark the anniversary.

Czech MPs debated a windfall tax on profits in the energy and banking sectors in the lower house on Tuesday. The government plans to generate tens of billions from the tax from next year, not retroactively for 2022, as some voices in the coalition had demanded.

Rudolf Jelínek is one of Czechia’s best-known brands of slivovitz (slivovice in Czech). The plum brandy firm was set up in Moravia in the late 19th century and the brand is still going strong today.

The great Czech artist Theodor Pištěk, who turned 90 on Tuesday, won an Oscar in 1985 for his costumes for Amadeus. However, he regards himself primarily as a painter – and a cross-section of his works can now be seen at a joint exhibition in Prague with his son Jan.

The 26th edition of the Ji.hlava International Festival of Documentary Films has just got underway. This year’s edition of Czechia’s biggest documentary event will deliver nearly 100 world premieres and several valuable retrospectives. On the eve of the festival I called founder Marek Hovorka in Jihlava and asked him about the film to be screened at Tuesday night’s gala opening.

The world-renowned Czech conductor Libor Pešek has died at the age of 89. In a career spanning seven decades, Mr. Pešek, who was best-known for his interpretations of Czech music, helmed orchestras across Europe and headed the Czech Philharmonic, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Orchestra in Britain.

Czechia has just over two more months at the helm of the EU and according to the Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek, the hardest test of its ability as a negotiator is yet to come. Prague needs to push ahead with some of the basic agreements of the Green Deal at a time when Europe is increasingly feeling the energy crunch.

Ivan Chvatík worked closely with Jan Patočka, helping organise underground seminars for the great Czech philosopher, and since his death has done more than anybody to keep his legacy alive. Chvatík himself came to philosophy after studying nuclear physics and was also involved in the advent of computing in communist Czechoslovakia. Today an active 81-year-old, the head of the Jan Patočka Archive shared some stories from his fascinating life during a recent interview at our studios.

Screenwriter and director Patrik Křivánek has become the first Czech to win a prize at the Page International Screenwriting Award competition, which aims to discover up-and-coming scriptwriters from around the world.  His story about an aging Holocaust survivor who has spent her whole life trying to escape a painful past was selected from nearly nine thousand entries.

The global network of Czech Centres operates as the cultural wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promoting the Czech Republic abroad and strengthening cultural ties between countries. There are 26 Czech Centres operating in 24 countries on three continents. On a recent trip to the UK, I spoke to Přemysl Pela, director of the Czech Centre London, and started by asking him what projects they have lined up for the next few months.