'Czech Republic' - tagged features

Crossing borders - something very easy to do in Europe. It's now three months since nine new EU member states entered Europe's border free travel zone, known as the Schengen area. Back in December last year border checkpoints were ceremonially decommissioned and there was a sense of optimism and excitement about what Schengen might bring for trade, tourism and stronger links between countries. But have things really changed? 

Thirty years ago Vladimir Remek became the first man in space who was not from either the United States or the Soviet Union. After taking part in the eight-day Soviet space mission in March 1978 Remek became a hero not only in his native Czechoslovakia but right throughout the East Bloc. Radio Prague’s Ian Willoughby spoke to the former cosmonaut about that historic flight – and the propaganda that came with it. 

A German film entitled “Die Fälscher” premiered at the 2007 Berlin Film festival – “The Counterfeiter” examines a little-known but rather fascinating episode in the Second World War. The Nazis thought they could cause the collapse of the American and British economies by flooding them with counterfeit banknotes. The Jewish printers making the fake money survived the Holocaust. Adolf Burger was one of them. Radio Prague’s Ian Willoughby brought us his incredible story. 

In a landmark verdict, the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that the Czech Republic violated the rights of Roma children by placing them in so-called special schools for children with learning difficulties. The state has been ordered to pay the 18 families who took the case 4,000 euros each in compensation. Meanwhile, Roma rights campaigners are now calling for the Czech Republic to adopt positive measures to address the segregation that still exists, despite changes to the law. Radio Prague’s Ian Willoughby reports. 

Ask any Czech to name the country's most famous beverage, and your answer’s almost certainly ‘beer’. Not only do Czechs drink more of the stuff per capita than anybody else, Czechs are also very proud of their brewing history, which includes the world's original Pilsner. For four years a polling agency has been mapping the Czechs' relationship to beer; the latest results were released on Wednesday. 

In spite of all its beauty, the Czech Republic is turning into rather unpleasant place to live - at least in some respects. Two-thirds of Czechs are currently gasping for air as it gets more and more polluted. This and many other alarming facts have been highlighted in an annual report on the Czech environment, published by the Environment Ministry. 

The largest historical book in the world is to go on show at Prague's Klementinum Gallery this week. The book is known as the “Devil's Bible” because of a large illustration of the devil inside. This bible is by no means a satanic work, but contains the Old and New Testaments and other medieval documents and was written in what is now the Czech Republic in the early thirteenth century. During the Middle Ages it was regarded as a wonder of the world. Plundered from Prague by Swedish soldiers during the Thirty Years War, it is now to return to the city temporarily after an absence of over 350 years. Radio Prague’s Joshua Singer has more. 

The issue of aggression in children is causing alarm in the Czech Republic. School bullying is a relatively new phenomenon in this former Eastern Bloc country: children would have led far more regimented lives two decades ago. School violence gets a lot of attention in the Czech press, and parents wonder what to do. Radio Prague’s Daniela Lazarova reports. 

A new German film examines a little-known but fascinating episode in the Second World War. The Nazis had the amazing idea of causing the collapse of the American and British economies – by flooding them with counterfeit banknotes. The Jewish printers who made the fake money survived the Holocaust. Adolf Burger was one of them. Radio Prague’s Ian Willoughby has his incredible story. 

Dozens of non-governmental organisations from the Czech Republic and around the world gathered in Prague recently for the annual NGO market. The 8th such event to be held in the Czech capital included lectures and debates on everything from the role of civic society in post-communist countries to water shortages in the Middle-East. The meeting was attended by members of the public from all walks of life, as well as Radio Prague's Rob Cameron. 

And on to another interesting cross-cultural phenomenon: Esperanto - a language that was invented 120 years ago by a Polish Jew. Cynics mocked it as an idealistic cult for linguistic weirdos. But today there still some diehards lobbying for Esperanto to be the EU's official language. They argue Esperanto is perfect for the modern internet age without global barriers. Radio Prague's Pavla Horakova has been finding out more about the small but vibrant community of Esperanto speakers in the Czech Republic. 

Now, from organizations buying political influence we move to selling influence in return for letting someone set up a military base in your backyard. That someone is, of course, the US and the proposed new military bases would be built in Poland and the Czech Republic. The plans have prompted lively debate there and have angered Russia considerably. Radio Prague's Rob Cameron has the story. 

The internet is such a huge part of our lives it's hard to imagine a time before it existed. But it is of course a relatively new phenomenon. In Prague this month they are marking the 15th anniversary of the day the Czechs officially hooked up to the net - few would have imagined in 1992 just how big a step they were taking. The man who connected the then Czechoslovakia to the web was Jan Gruntorad. He spoke to Radio Prague's Dita Asiedu. 

The Czech daily Lidove Noviny recently published details of a little-known footnote in Cold War history; browsing through the archives of Czechoslovakia's communist-era secret police or StB, the paper discovered that among the foreign journalists regularly followed on his trips to Prague was one Frederick Forsyth. Today known as the best-selling author of such classics as the Day of the Jackal and the Odessa File, back in the early 1960s Frederick Forsyth was a young journalist based in Berlin. Rob Cameron called the novelist at his home in Hertfordshire, England, and asked him to reflect on his trips to communist Prague at the height of the Cold War. 

“Never again”: how many times have we heard that, after genocides, wars and human rights violations…..yet these are still happening. Well let’s zoom in on an original project which is hoping to change this… "So that children know" is the title of an EU-funded project, in the Czech Republic. It’s goal is to teach fourteen and fifteen-year olds about human rights. The idea is not new - what makes it special is that it aims to break with the old practice of memorizing a text; instead it encourages pupils to talk about various aspects of human rights – and takes them to a World War II concentration camp. Radio Prague’s Daniela Lazarova reports. 

Let's face it everywhere you turn at this time of the year you can't help but bump into a fat man with a white beard dressed in a red suit. Santa Claus is everywhere - on shopping bags, in shop windows - you name it. But Santa is a relatively new phenomenon in the Czech Republic. A similar figure, Mikulas, visits children on December 5, while presents are delivered on December 24 by the Baby Jesus. Some Czechs resent the ever-present Santa Claus - saying the figure has a negative influence on Czech kids. Taking matters into their own hands, the Creative Copywriters Club has set up a website with a simple message: Santa go home! Radio Prague caught up with David Koenig from the club at a shopping mall in the Czech capital. 

LSD is usually associated with the hippy "flower power" era in the West in the late 1960s. But few people know that thousands of tests involving the psychedelic drug were carried out in Czechoslovakia, from the mid 1950s until the mid 70s. Canadian journalist R.M. Crockford is currently in Prague researching this country's LSD testing program, which he says was perhaps the biggest conducted anywhere in the world. 

People will certainly be shouting "skål" as they wine and dine in royal company during the Nobel ceremony in December in Stockholm but in the Czech Republic doctors are sounding the alarm. Women there are raising their glasses with a "Na zdravi!" far too often. In fact, in 2005, the number of women who entered Czech clinics with an alcohol abuse problem was twice as high one decade earlier. Radio Prague's Daniela Lazarova reports. 

"Journeys of Franz Kafka" is the name of a new internet project in which award-winning Czech photographer Jan Jindra follows in the footsteps of the literary great, taking black and white pictures of many of the places Kafka visited. One of the project's aims is to dispel the idea that the German-speaking author never left Prague; in fact he travelled rather extensively, around the Czech Republic and to countries such as Germany, France and Italy. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby has the story. 

Europe’s Roma often live on the margins of society, suffering a variety of problems from high unemployment to relatively low life expectancy. In the Czech Republic a new report highlights what seems to be a disturbing trend – the creation of Roma ghettos. The study, ordered by a Czech government ministry, shows that more and more Romanies in the Czech Republic are finding themselves literally living on the edge of society. 

Over two dozen Czech neo-Nazis were arrested in Prague this week, after a protest outside the city’s Israeli Embassy. Most of them belonged to a group called National Resistance, who recently asked the Czech President to be allowed to join foreign armed forces to wage war on Israel. How strong is the neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic? 

A United Nations committee is looking into claims of enforced sterilisation of Romany women in a number of former communist states, including the Czech Republic. The practice is said to have started in the communist days as a means of "regulating" the Romany population. Human rights activists fear that the practice did not end with the fall of communism. 

It was a long time coming, but on Saturday July 1st, gay and lesbian couples across the Czech Republic were finally free to tie the knot. Dozens of couples seized on the opportunity to seal their relationship with a civic ceremony on the very first day that this was possible. Radio Prague's Daniela Lazarova reports from one ceremony. 

Last week-ends' Elections in the Czech Republic ended in deadlock: the right-wing Civic Democrats came first, but they are finding it very hard to form a coalition, with the two left-wing parties winning exactly half the seats in the lower house. Meanwhile, neighboring Slovakia is gearing up for early elections in a weeks' time. Czechs and Slovaks spent 80 years together, as part of the same state, and Czech politics are still keenly observed in Slovakia. So what lessons will be drawn in Bratislava from the stalemate in Prague? Radio Prague speaks to Milan Nic, the Slovakia based NGO, the Pontis Foundation. 

Several of the most fancied teams failed to impress at the last World Cup. Argentina, France and Portugal were all knocked out as early as the group stage. Their poor performances were partly due to a long club season. A lot of the world's best players were exhausted by the time the World Cup came up. So is that going to be the case this time round? Radio Prague talks to Czech Republic and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. 

In May 2004 as 10 new members joined the European Union Ireland, the United Kingdom and Sweden were the only countries to immediately open their labour markets to the new EU citizens. Since then, according to Ireland's official figures, around 10,000 Czechs have taken advantage of that opportunity to work there. Now - drawing on two years of experience - the Irish government has just launched an information campaign entitled "Know Before You Go" . Radio Prague reports from the Czech capital.