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Czechoslovakia as well as other Central European countries had a large Jewish community before the Second World War. Many of its Jewish citizens perished in concentration camps and survivors had to face up to the horrors of what they had been through. Many also felt a need to tell others about what had happened in the death camps. This helped to originate a lot of good films in post-war Czechoslovakia.

The Czech Republic is a country with a huge film-making tradition, and the New Wave of the 60s has gone down in film legend. With the end of communism, many predicted that the film industry would collapse, especially with the sharp fall in state subsidy. But, as Kate Barrette reports, the Czech film industry is very much alive and kicking, despite only very limited state support.

Henryk Ross (1910-1991), a photographer appointed by the Jewish Council in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, took thousands of photographs documenting life in the ghetto. Kate Barrette has more on an exhibition displaying a selection of the Lodz photos, which are being shown for only the second time.

Music and poetry are closely related, and this connection is the theme of a little known festival hidden among a number of Prague's better promoted events - a chamber music festival bearing the title "Touches of Music and Poetry".

Photography is a great phenomenon of the contemporary world. It captures pieces of our lives and saves them for the future. This is even intensified in the case of press photography which reports news, tells stories and mediates events for the general public. Although we see press photos in newspapers every day, you realize their real significance only in exhibitions such as Czech Press Photo.

The weeks before Christmas may symbolize to some people hasty shopping in crowded stores or the rush to get the Christmas preparations ready. But others try to get away from the rush by attending various concerts and events related to Christmas. Many of these events are staged by amateur choirs. There are literally hundreds of choirs in the Czech Republic, and Christmas is their peak season.

A new documentary called Zeny pro meny (The Beauty Exchange in English) looks at how the media makes contemporary Czech women feel conscious of their appearance, and the ways they try to conform to stereotypes of feminine beauty. Zeny pro meny's director Erika Hnikova, who is 28, explains why she chose this topic.

Prague is well known as a city full of theatres, concert halls, music clubs and galleries. All year round there are festivals in all fields of the arts. But is it sufficient? Does the city also give young artists enough space to develop their talent? And how about the contemporary art work that decorates some Prague streets and squares; does it deserve such prominent exposure? These and many other questions were brought up at a public debate this week.

The Czech writer and journalist Libuse Konradova has just written a book about the life of Jaroslav Novak, a navigator of the British Royal Air Force during the World War II. In the book Novak recalls his childhood, the beginning of the war and his joining the Czechoslovak Air Force, as well as his dramatic escape from the country, at the beginning of the Nazi occupation. In the major part of the book Libuse Konradova explains Novak's operations as an RAF pilot including the Battle of Britain. In the end she describes the disillusionment the pilot

The Czech Centre for Oral History has recently finished collection over one hundred and twenty in-depth interviews with former communists and dissidents. The project is the first of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe and will likely serve as a precedent for other former communist countries. Fifty of the interviews will be published for the general public early next year, while the rest of the material will be made available to academics for further analysis. We spoke to the centre's director, Miroslav Vanek.