Czech Update
The latest updates from news and events for all interested in Czech language and culture.
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Czechs celebrate anniversaries of Jan Hus and Cyril and Metoděj on successive days
Author: admin Posted: July 5th, 2009
Svatý Valentýn comes to Prague, fills expat paper's space
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: February 13th, 2009
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Habits and customs
• History
• Holidays
• Numbers, statistics, surveys and polls
The Prague Daily Monitor makes a 'desperate-to-fill-space-on-the-page' connection between the increasing popularity of the previously un read more »
Lost in translation: Prudish Washington Post journalist mistranslates spa, has time of her life in Karlovy Vary
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: February 7th, 2009
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Environment
• Habits and customs
• Health
• History
• Holidays
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• Language
• Tourism
A slender blonde sitting next to me on a bench in Karlovy Vary's Spa III got up, tossed off the white read more »
A little glimpse of Czech history
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 7th, 2009
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
An interesting article from 1939's Telegraph appeared giving us a glimpse of Czech history at a painful moment in the country's memory as it was casually described by the British press little realising that it was but the first step on the way to the invasion of Britain.
read more »Czech crooners (dead and alive) on YouTube
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: July 7th, 2008
Karel Hála, a star of Czech big band pop music since the 1950s just died as reported by Lidové Noviny. Here's a cliop of him and another stallwart of Czech pop Karel Gott.
read more »
Masaryk's name not for sale
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: June 20th, 2008
Here's an interesting example of how history can be important to the present.
To have a glass of Masaryk? In ČR not possible - Czechnews - Aktuálně.cz Czechs are so proud of their first democratic president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk that they will not let anyone use his surname as a trade mark.
read more »
Karel Gott, the never-aging pop star, marries in Las Vegas
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 13th, 2008
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 »
Czechs end 2007 with EU freedom of movement
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 2nd, 2008
Categories: History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
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 »
Velvet Revolution in video (YouTube weekly)
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: November 17th, 2007
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 »
18 years since Velvet Revolution on 17 November
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: November 15th, 2007
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 »
Happy birthday Czechoslovakia
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: October 28th, 2007
Yes, it is 89 years today, 28. October 1918 that Czechoslovakia (Československo) was founded lasting with an interruption for WWII until 1992.
Sokol in New York still going strong after 140 years
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: October 15th, 2007
Dictionary of Czech culture
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: September 15th, 2007
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Architecture
• Art
• Families
• Film
• Food and drink
• Gender relations
• Habits and customs
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• Literature
• Music
• Myths and tales
• National identity
• Politics
• Regional Differences
• Seasons
• Sport
• Tourism
• Cultural Life
The Amazon reviewer got it right! read more »
EU Skeptic Ideologue Praises 'Courageous' Czechs in a Newspaper that Once Supported Hitler's Annexation
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: February 8th, 2009
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• National identity
• News
• Numbers, statistics, surveys and polls
Prominent UK right-winger, Peter Hitchens lays out the involved history of the Czech land in a typically tendentiously der read more »
40th Anniversary of Jan Palach's Suicide
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 16th, 2009
Today is the anniversary of Jan Palach's suicide. read more »
Czech year in pictures
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: December 27th, 2008
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• History
Czech online newspaper Aktuálně.cz published an excellent overview of the Czech political year 2008 in pictures. Including this picture of the Brother Mašíns' rehabilitation debate. read more »
Czech animation reviving rich history
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: June 27th, 2008
Czechs have always been on the cutting edge of animation (even helping with some of the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the 1950s and 1960s) and now it seems, things are looking up again, as this short article in Variety suggests. The name from the past to take note of is Jan Švankmajer who's cited as an influence on Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. read more »
Mašín brothers, history, present
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: June 2nd, 2008
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• National identity
• Politics
The International Herald Tribune offers a very good write up of a rather small event in the history of early communist rule in Czechoslovakia that has caused much controversy in more recent times. read more »
New resource for Czech exile literature online
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 5th, 2008
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Culture
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• Literature
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 »
Czech inventor of the 'drunk tank' dies aged 91
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: November 27th, 2007
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• Language
• Numbers, statistics, surveys and polls
• Vocabulary
• Curiosities
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 »
Talking about the Velvet Revolution
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: November 17th, 2007
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Culture
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• National identity
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.
Great November in October evokes nostalgia in many
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: November 7th, 2007
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 »
1950s prosecutor on trial for judicial murder
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: October 16th, 2007
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 »
Kafka in Czech complete
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: September 29th, 2007
Categories: About Czechs and Czech Republic
• Culture
• History
• International perspectives: Czechs and the world
• Literature
• National identity
• Prague
Was he or wasn't he? read more »
History of Prague lighting system
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: September 15th, 2007
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 »
