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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the winner of the online survey regarding what date should be celebrated as the Day of Czechs Abroad. February 4, when the famous teacher and philosopher Jan Amos Comenius left his homeland in 1628 won by a large margin with 42 percent of the vote ahead of December 23, 1989, when the wire at the Rozvadov border with Germany was symbolically cut, which received 21 percent. I asked the Czech Republic’s Special Envoy for Expatriate Affairs Jiří Krátký whether the winning date surprised him.

Just hours after a state of emergency was reintroduced in the Czech Republic to help fight the worsening coronavirus epidemic, people from the restaurant business took to the streets to protest against measures which they say are devastating their livelihood. According to fresh data released by the Association of Hotels and Restaurants the year-on-year decline in public catering revenues could reach 60 billion crowns.

Although the Czech Republic is one of the lowest generators of household waste in the European Union, its production has been gradually increasing in recent years. One of the most alarming things is the amount of food that Czechs throw out. A study by scientists from Brno’s Mendel University has revealed that they waste far more food than previously thought.

The 1926 painting ‘La Dame de Pique’ by the Czech surrealist artist Toyen sold at auction in Prague on Sunday for nearly 3 million euros, a record high for a work by a Czech artist. She painted it whilst living in Paris, at a unique time in her development as an artist, in terms of the style – after gravitating away from the ‘Artificialism’ style she had developed with fellow Czech avant-garde painter and collaborator Jindřich Štýrský and a return to Surrealism.

The Czech Republic entered a 30-day state of emergency as of Monday in response to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The higher level of alertness not only gives the government more powers, but is also accompanied by the activation of new measures ranging from the closure of high schools in high risk areas, to the limitation of shared seating in restaurants.

Tatra’s futuristic-looking, aerodynamic cars, which first appeared on the roads in the 1930s, represent some of the most distinctive designs ever produced in Czechoslovakia. These now classic cars were not the only thing Tatra made; as well as their well-known trucks, the company based in Kopřivnice, Moravia also turned out planes, military vehicles and even the stunning Slovak Arrow train. However, cars are the main focus of the book Tatra: The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka by Ivan Margolius and John G. Henry, which has just come out in Czech for the first time. Margolius’s father Rudolf Margolius was executed in the notorious Slánsky show trial when Ivan was a small boy and in the 1960s he moved to London, where he became an architect. He shared a startling family connection to Tatra, and lots of fascinating information on the company’s history, in this interview from his home in the UK.

Czechs have started voting in elections to regional assemblies and a third of seats in the Senate. The elections are taking place amid tight security measures aimed at preventing a further spread of the coronavirus epidemic which has significantly worsened in recent weeks.

“Sex, drugs and rock and roll – on wheels.” That’s the tagline for a newly released documentary about the Tap Tap, a Czech band formed two decades ago as a creative outlet for students at the Jedlička Institute, a renowned Prague school for the disabled. The film, shot over several years, promises a “politically incorrect” behind-the-scenes look at life on and off the road for the band.

British historian Daniel Lee is a specialist in the history of Jews in France and North Africa during the Holocaust. His latest book, The SS Officer’s Armchair: Uncovering the hidden life of a Nazi, is the story of a German lawyer named Robert Griesinger who joined the Gestapo, served in the Wehrmacht, and then in occupied Prague. In the first part of this interview, we learned how a cache of Griesinger’s documents, found hidden in an armchair, compelled Daniel Lee to research the life of this “ordinary Nazi”, to better understand the inner workings of the Third Reich.

The 10th annual Architecture Day gets underway in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on Thursday, with more than 100 towns and cities taking part this year. Despite its name, the event will run for seven days, offering free guided tours of significant historical landmarks and contemporary buildings, as well as lectures, family workshops and artistic installations.