Czech Update

Karel Gott, the never-aging pop star, marries in Las Vegas

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:08:39 +0000

He's been a fixture on the Czech, German and general East European music scene since at least he mid-1960s. Started off with Rock'n'Roll and descended into broad pop in the 70s. Sold millions and millions of records and is the subject of adoration and derision in equal measure. Most Czechs and their parents have grown up listening to him and watching him win music contests. read more »

New resource for Czech exile literature online

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:08:47 +0000

A complete text (all in Czech) of a book survey of Czech exile literature between 1971 and 1989 was made available by the author on the University of Glasgow's Slavonic Studies Department website. read more »

Czechs end 2007 with EU freedom of movement

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:38:48 +0000

Finally, Czechs can leave their passports or IDs at home when travelling to any of their neighbouring countries. The Schengen zone has embraced a bunch of new countries including all those that share a border with Czech Republic. read more »

Czech inventor of the 'drunk tank' dies aged 91

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:07:26 +0000

Záchytka is a wonderful Czech word that stands for the institution for the collection of drunken (and possibly disorderly) individual wondering city streets occasionally referred to in English as 'drunk tank' or ' read more »

Velvet Revolution in video (YouTube weekly)

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:01:27 +0000

YouTube is a great source of video to illustrate historical events and the Velvet Revolution is no exception. Here are a few clips.

Montage of moments from the days of and after 17 November: read more »

Talking about the Velvet Revolution

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:55:26 +0000

Listen to what it was like to be a Velvet Revolutionary in this discussion between Bohemica's Dominik Lukeš and Eamonn Burgess on Future Radio 96.9FM. This discussion was part of the Community Chest programme guest-hosted by Dominik on 16 November 2007.

18 years since Velvet Revolution on 17 November

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:57:39 +0000

For the 18th time since 1989, Czechs are celebrating the end of "communism" and the beginning of "democracy". The country has seen many changes since that time but many feel nostalgia for the 'bad' old times and the communist party still has 15% representation in parliament. But the chances of going back to what it was are very small. read more »

Great November in October evokes nostalgia in many

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:52:15 +0000

Czech communists but doubtless others are remembering the great October revolution of 1917 in Russian celebrated on 2 November (due to discrepancies in calendar systems). read more »

Happy birthday Czechoslovakia

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:24:55 +0000

Yes, it is 89 years today, 28. October 1918 that Czechoslovakia (Československo) was founded lasting with an interruption for WWII until 1992.

1950s prosecutor on trial for judicial murder

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:07:43 +0100

Ludmila Brožová Polednová was among the prosecutors who were involved in sending Milada Horáková and others to the gallows in the 1950s. Now, she is on trial for judicious murder. This Czech interview with a historian explains why the case against her is strong even after all those years. read more »

Sokol in New York still going strong after 140 years

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:54:06 +0100

Kafka in Czech complete

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:27:05 +0100

Was he or wasn't he? read more »

Dictionary of Czech culture

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:56:48 +0100

The Amazon reviewer got it right! read more »

History of Prague lighting system

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:15:52 +0100

It seems just like yesterday but apparently it was 160 years ago that Prague first got its gas-lit public lighting system which slowly replaced oil lamps used until then. The first two hundred lamps generated all sorts of fears about the flames people thought were going through the tubes. read more »

The look of post-communism: New ČSA logo

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:17:25 +0100

It appears the Czech Airlines are changing their look to look less Eastern European, lower quality and post-communist. See them below side by side and judge for yourself if you can tell the new from the old: read more »

The simple pleasures of non-Prague

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:29:00 +0100

A visit to Třeboň, a small picturesque town (malebné městečko) in Southern Bohemia elicited justified outbursts of lyricism from a Seattle columnists. And he's right. The individual personality of small Czech towns is something to be experienced through a leisurely journey rather than a hectic 'been there, done that' trip. read more »

1968 Invasion Remembered

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:00:00 +0100

Thirty-nine years ago, the Prague Spring's efforts for "Socialism with a human face" culminated in an invasion by the Warsaw Pact armies during the night of 20-21st of August. Wikipedia has useful information and you can see some moving pictures on YouTube: read more »

Absinthe: tourist attraction as well as a popular export item

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:20:52 +0100

There are fewer drinks with more history and less appeal than absinthe. It has been made in the Czech lands for over a hundred years with all its decadence and semi-halucinogenic properties. It has now become a tourist attraction as well as a profitable export business.
read more »

Historians not done with 1968 invasion

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:16:18 +0100

Apparently, not all the direct victims of the invasion of 1968 have been identified. That's surprising given their 'relatively' low number but not that surprising given the follwing twenty-one years were spent pretending nothing had happened. read more »

Czechs are from Mars

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:50:09 +0100

Well, it seems that the world has more than just the death of Dinosaurs to be thankful to a meteorite for. It is possible, it seems, that the Czech basin or "Česká kotlina" as it is known, is also a result of a giant rock smashing into the Earth. We owe the nice pancake shape of the country to that catastrophic event of 100 million years ago.
read more »

Czech communities in Texas since 1850s

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:45:25 +0100

Texas Czech group working to preserve traditions - 21-06-2007 - Radio PragueThe first Czechs began settling in Texas in the 1850s and within five decades there were around 250 Czech communities in the state. Today one of the organisations keeping the community's traditions alive is the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Centre. This week John Polasek, a member of its board of directors, was in Prague on behalf of the centre to receive an award from the Czech Foreign Ministry. He told me about its activities. read more »

Czechs don't see change in politicians' honesty

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:34:03 +0000

Czech Unconvinced About Their Politicians: Angus Reid Global Monitor Many adults in the Czech Republic are disappointed with their current public servants, according to a poll by STEM. 72 per cent of respondents believe today’s politicians are not more honest than those from the communist era.

Of course, in most countries people don't have particularly high expectations of politicians' honesty. It might be dispiriting, though, that Czechs don't think theirs are any better now than when they were representing a totalitarian regime. But, on the other hand, there's a good chance that public representatives then were no more mendacious and self-serving as people and dismissive of their electorate then they are likely to be anywhere. Only, they were operating in a totalitarian context. read more »

Czech Internet 15 years old

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:08:32 +0000

Českému Internetu je 15 let - LUPA Československo (ČSFR) se slavnostně připojilo k celosvětovému Internetu přesně před patnácti lety, 13. února 1992. Jak to tehdy probíhalo a jak vůbec vypadal tehdejší online svět? Kolik lidí již tehdy mohlo používat například elektronickou poštu a jaké objemy dat k nám tekly ze zahraničí?

Well, more precisely, it was fifteen years ago that the first computer at a Czech university got connected to the world backbone in 1992. It took a read more »

Village shops unite under Coop label, shed communist past

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:11:25 +0000

Vesnické obchody se spojí proti Teskům a Lidlům - iDNES.cz České obchody Jednota, Konzum a Coop, kterých je 3074 po celé zemi, se chtějí jako protiváha k nadnárodním řetězcům zviditelnit pod jedním názvem. S největší pravděpodobností to bude Coop.

Two names that were known to Czech shoppers for decades may soon disappear. Jednota (Unity) and Konzum (Consuming) were two state-run (or at least state controlled) cooperatives covering thousands of shops and restaurants all over Czechoslovakia. read more »

Take the Czech quiz!

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:53:51 +0000

Tiscali Europa It's not all beer and the Vltava you know... Ten countries in Central Europe and the Mediterranean joined the European Union in 2004 - how well do you know them? Can you tell a Becherovka from a Jan Huss? Or a Škoda from a Schroeder? Try your luck with our great photo quizzes... but make a mistake and you get sent back to the beginning!

Tiscali Europe has provided this fun quiz on what is important to know about the Czech Republic. They hit many of the major points (although they read more »