Worldcrunch
Updated Nov. 17, 2023 at 12:10 p.m. In the push for an end to the Communist regime, Prague’s international students took to the streets to have their demands heard on November 17, 1989. It was the beginning of what would come to be known as the Velvet Revolution. How did the Velvet Revolution begin? On […]
A week has passed since the passing of the Czech-born author of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera in his Paris apartment. Having emigrated to France in 1975 after being ostracized for criticizing the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, his relationship with his homeland would remain complicated for decades.
A bloc of eastern European countries has distanced themselves from Western Europe — Germany in particular — by sending Soviet era jets to Ukraine, part of growing push to supply the country with Western-made fighter jets.
Attitudes are shifting in countries with both a communist past and strong Christian roots.
PRAGUE — As I walked down Avenue René Coty on a sunny day in late May, everything was like a Paris postcard — except that my glasses were fogging up over my facemask. But I knew the scenery by heart by then, as I had never left a one-kilometer radius around my student residence during […]
Rock hero Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, has described live music performances during the COVID-19 lockdowns as: “unflattering little windows that look like doorbell security footage and sound like Neil Armstrong’s distorted transmissions from the moon.” One month later, in some corners of the world, authentic, in-person live music is ready to […]
-Analysis- PRAGUE — From a geopolitical perspective, the Czech Republic is a case apart. After four decades of being “abducted” to the East (as writer Milan Kundera, for one, described the era of Soviet communism), it has spent 30 years as part of the West, first as part of Czechoslovakia, with its Velvet Revolution, and […]
PRAGUE — Czech Republic was the first country I visited that wasn’t either Latin or Germanic. Czech, as I found out the hard way, is a very tricky Slavic language, one of those that rarely lets you deduce the meaning of a word and in which entire sentences seem to have been written by somebody […]
There are several statues, monuments and informal crosses thoughout Prague that commemorate the death of 21-year-old Jan Palach and 19-year-old Jan Zajíc. The two students set themselves on fire in 1969 to protest the end of the Prague Spring, brought on by the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led armies.
Over the years, we saw Prague transition from austere Soviet Czechoslovakia to the more tourist-friendly Czech Republic. I took this picture of my wife in the Old Town Square — one of Europe’s most beautiful squares — just about eight months before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Certain buildings in Mariánské Lázne still retain some of their Bohemian grandeur, from when the spa town then known as Marienbad was a favorite destination among the European elite early in the 20th century. But by the time we got there at century’s end, a few years after the birth the Czech Republic, that golden […]
The wind-swept hair, the over-dramatic singing and facial expressions, the incomprehensible video, the change of key towards the end of the song, the reflective staring into mirrors, lyrics such as “sea of pain”, “ravens calling my name” or “we can rise and fight” … You can’t really get more Eurovision than Marta Jandová and Václav […]
In 1962, the Sovietization of Eastern Europe was at its height. It was hard enough to get into Czechoslovakia (we had to wait three hours at the border), but getting out was where things got dicey. From a watchtower, a guard had seen me take pictures of the Iron Curtain, and asked me to open […]
It took more than five years to build Prague’s gigantic Stalin Monument, which was eventually unveiled in 1955. And only seven years later: BOOM, the Soviets dynamited what they thought was an outrageous display of Stalin’s cult of personality. We were lucky enough to see it in all its might when we went to then […]
Nazis used a Czech military fortress to hold Jewish prisoners during World War II. Yet somehow art and music flourished, including one notable opera that had gone tragically unperformed.
NEW IRAQ GOVERNMENT “PROMISING” Iraqi President Fuad Masum is forming a new government to help halt the ISIS insurgency in the country’s north, replacing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a development U.S. President Barack Obama characterized as “a promising step forward.” Masum has asked veteran Shia politician Haider al-Abadi to replace Maliki, whose political support […]
Karel Janecek became a billionaire before 40. Now, as President Vaclav Klaus steps down in a cloud after a decade, Janecek is leading the fight for those who want to clean up Czech politics.
ABC.AU, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia), REUTERS Worldcrunch PRAGUE – Meet Karel Schwarzenberg, the bow-tied, 75-year-old prince who channels the Sex Pistols and wants to be president of the Czech Republic. Born into a family that owned large amounts of Czech and Austrian lands, the Schwarzenbergs fled when the Communists took over in 1948, writes Reuters. […]
BERLIN – Can we draw conclusions about another person’s character traits based on their facial or body features? We have a tendency to base ourselves on outer appearance when forming first impressions of other people. Studies have shown that the shape of a face plays a role in our perception of how trustworthy somebody is. […]
The Luxemburg-based European Court of Justice ruled this week a product the Czechs call butter is not butter, which means that the beloved spread known as “pomazankove maslo” (“spreadable butter”) can no longer be labeled as such. Non-Czechs would never have called it butter, which it bears no resemblance to – it doesn’t even really […]
PRAGUE – The Czechs have a strong taste for alcohol. They are the world’s foremost beer drinkers, and rank second for drinking hard liquor, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This love of alcohol has taken a tragic turn with the appearance on the Czech market of large quantity of adulterated vodka and rum. […]
In the Czech Republic, where corruption is rampant, some have decided to make an honest buck out of the dirty dealings: Corruption Tours, or the “Prague Cronies Safari,” shows the spots around Prague where bribes have been passed and fav
A recent book is shedding new light on Terezin, a Czech town and fortress that was converted by the Nazis into a Jewish concentration. More than 30,000 people died there. Three times that number were sent from Terezin to Poland-based Nazi camps like Ausc
Pushed out of Prague, Roma are heading to northern Bohemia. Their arrival has triggered a backlash from native Czechs in the region of Ústí nad Labem, which is also attracting right-wing extremists who come from the city to stoke local anger and shout the
Facing surprisingly high obesity rates, the Czech military is forced to crack down on high-fat diets. Some, however, have pointed out that certain plump generals set a bad example for the troops on the ground.