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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Author: Antonin Vaclavik (CzechFolks.com PLUS)

(Translated by Helena Kaczérová)

There are not many countries and nations in the world today which can still boast, of such rich folk art as that peculiar to Czechoslovakia and its peoples. Its immense wealth, endless variety of form, colors – sometimes bright, sometimes soft – its remarkablemony and fineness of work, have won for the art of the Czech and Slovak people the admiration of all who have met with it.

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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Author: Josef Cermak (CzechFolks.com PLUS)

The author of the book “Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed”, Mary Heinmann, is an American historian teaching at the Strathclyde University in Scotland. Her book was published by the Yale University Press.

According to the review (an example of how reviews should be written) in the Economist (Nov.21, 2009), Ms Heinmann sees the former Czechoslovakia as a political entity which was born out of trickery and died in failure; as an artificial creature, essentially a fraud, and the wily duo responsible for the fraud, Tomas Masaryk and Edward Benes, who duped the victorious Western allies into creation of a new country, which ignored the interests of all ethnic groups (particularly the Germans) except Czechs and Slovaks; its treatment of the Sudeten Germans in the first republic as the ultimate cause of the first Czechoslovak republic’s downfall and (together with reparations imposed on Germany) in large part responsible for the Second World War; following the Munich agreement, it engaged in anti-Semitism, which - in her view - was simply continuation of existing tendencies; and the work of Edward Benes and Jan Masaryk during the Second World War she sees as a story of Czech guile and Western gullibility, while describing the three postwar years before the communist seizure of power as a horrible period of racial revenge, rape, robbery and deportation inflicted on guilty and blameless Germans alike. And the Prague Spring was simply a by-product of a factional fight in the Communist Party. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Would you like to see how Prague used to look like 100 years ago? You may want to go to the website below that shows authentic Prague photos and compares them to real paintings by the Czech artist Jan Minarik (1862 – 1937). The website is well done and easy to use, and allows you to move a bar in the middle of the photo to look at the old painting or the most recent photographs. You will be able to see places such as Havelsky trh, Kaprova and Maiselova Street, Charles Bridge, the National museum building, and many other beautiful places in the capital of the Czech Republic. You will be able to explore a total of 29 photograph/paintings and see, in some cases, dramatic changes in the landscape, and building sizes and orientation. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

A brand new year is upon us - another year filled with new surprises, expectations, hopes and dreams, resolutions, love, laughs …

Our sincere wish is that your new year will be filled with everything that you wish for:
Peace in world relations, success in your business, freedom in your thoughts, love in your friendships and relationships, beauty in your creations and much more.

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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

This is the title of a presentation given by Peter Petrik on November 2nd, 2009 at the University of Texas, Dallas. Mr. Petrik was born in the former Czechoslovakia giving him the insight and experience to deliver a great presentation accompanied by his personal photographs and stories that kept the audience entertained. The lecture describes the transformation of Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War and its impact on international business. If you are interested in the history of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other European countries, you should watch the video below. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This day is special for children as well as for their parents. Last year we described what happens when a child meets St. Nicholas, the devil and the angel, but this year we would like to share with you a tradition and a recipe that one immigrant family follows while they share their love with others on the eve of this special day. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Author: Josef Cermak (CzechFolks.com PLUS)

Frank Tesar celebrates his 95th birtday

Just a couple of years after the end of the second world war (in June 1947) the Kapoun couple in Brno (Czech Republic) received a letter that must have seemed a bit upsetting. It came from Aba in Nigeria, a place not many people in the former Czechoslovakia would be corresponding with at that time.

The letter begins politely and innocently: “First, I would like to ask you to forgive me for writing to you although you don’t know me.” That was the first sentence. Then, in the second sentence, a bomb: “But surely you already know from Svatava (their daughter), that we agreed that she would come to Africa to become my wife.” Then comes a deep thought: “Since I cannot ask you for the hand of your Miss Svatava in person, I take the liberty of asking you by using this unusual way, namely by letter.” (Not even Clark Gable in ‘Gone With The Wind’ would need to be ashamed of the next sentence): “It must certainly be very difficult for you to give your daughter to someone you don’t know” (The next few words grounded me) “and whom your daughter doesn’t personally know either.” Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Today is Thanksgiving, a harvest festival celebrated in the United States and Canada. On this day people give thanks for the harvest. Even though Thanksgiving is not celebrate in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, many Czechs and Slovaks express their gratitude while living in the USA and Canada or other democratic countries. For them, living in a free country brings with it more appreciation than just during this holiday. Many of them left the country, while it was still controlled by the Communist party and found their freedom far away from their homes, while risking their lives during their escapes. The article named “Giving Thanks for Freedom, Remembering the Czech Revolution” posted on the San Diego News Network by Marketa Hancova, the dean of education at Platt College, San Diego School of Art and Design, speaks just about that and more. The English version can be found HERE and its translation is posted below. Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving! Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

A couple of months ago we announced a new sweepstakes with one history question. We did not realize how many people would respond to this article. The question was either very easy or all of our readers know about the history of the Czech Republic. Since we wanted to be fair, we went through all the results and verified the CzechFolks.com membership. Then we had to put in a pool of hundreds of emails to select one winner that will receive a mug and a T-shirt of a choice from our partner ABC imports. We were so pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming response by our readership that we decided to select one more winner that will receive a T-shirt of a choice. ABC imports also wanted to thank to all the readers that answered our question for the sweepstakes. They all will receive a code to redeem $5 cash back on their purchase from the partner’s site. We hope to start a new drawing soon, thus stay tuned for our new postings. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Do you still remember going to Czech restaurants and pubs with tacky decorations, dirty walls, sticky tables or dirty tablecloths with set in stains? The food from that era was very simple, maybe too oily or salty, but very cheap. In places like this you could find interesting people and an atmosphere that was much different form the one you may experience today. This week you can find a restaurant like this in Prague 3 called “U dvou Hrabalu” on Chelcickeho 14 Street. The restaurant was re-designed to show what Czech or even Slovak pubs used to look like in the eighties or maybe even earlier times. Until Sunday, the visitors have a chance to go back in time to re-live the past that may have already been forgotten.

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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Readers of CzechFolks.com PLUS have been following a series on what foreign radios broadcasted in last weeks of the totalitarian regime and the early days of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. As the recent surveys have shown, it was the media and especially foreign radio broadcasts that had a major impact on sharing information with the Czech and Slovak population. This was confirmed by 86% of respondents in the research, which was done early in the autumn of this year by the staff from the Center for Public Opinion Research (part of the Institute of Sociology of the Cs. Academy of Sciences). Miroslav Sigl was invited to the final data presentation from the investigation of a large sample of 1046 respondents from the age of 15 and older. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Author: Miroslav Sígl (CzechFolks.com PLUS)

I did not realize how much attention the encyclopedia “Who was and who is” (of Melnik, Kralupy and Neratovice, a region with a total of 76 municipalities) would get. The encyclopedia was published in 2008 by Libri Praha. In its 640 pages one can get to know more than two thousand people. As compatriots they lived or still live, worked or still work abroad. It is commendable that one still remembers them and that many of our towns, villages, schools, institutions or businesses continue to be in contact with them and are met with interest when they visit their native places. Our Czech Institute of Foreign Affairs in Prague pays them great attention, but also the press of foreign countrymen. I briefly mention some of the significant among them, their story is generally very interesting and their remarkable life deserves further interest from the public. Some names are missing some biographical data, I shall welcome (as well as the publisher) any further comments or additional information.

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