Czechs in History | All stories

Ema Destinnova - or Emmy Destinn, as she became known abroad - was one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of the twentieth century and one of the most sought-after singers before WWI, thanks to her voice of exceptional richness, power, and control. She sang with the legendary Enrico Caruso and many other stars in the most prestigious opera houses in Europe and the United States, such as Bayreuth, Berlin's Hofoper, London's Covent Garden and New York's Metropolitan.

If you have friends in the Czech Republic and they send you Christmas greetings regularly, you might have received an idyllic post card depicting village children sledge-riding, skating or building a snowman. They are all dressed up in the style of the 1930s, the most fruitful period of our Czech in History today - painter and writer Josef Lada.

Vitezslav Novak is considered one of the best Czech classical music composers of the first half of the 20th century. As an old man, he described his own works in the following words: "...my music has always been a reflection of my life."

Vladislav Vancura was a prominent Czech writer of the first half of the 20th century - and a brave man at the same time. His uncompromising fight against Nazism cost him life - he was shot dead by the Gestapo in Prague.

Today's Czech in History is one of the most outstanding painters of the 20th century, who died young, and due to the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia never saw his paintings exhibited. His name was Mikulas Medek.

If you say the name of Natasa Gollova to those who are in their 60s and 70s today, their eyes will light up. Natasa was one of those film stars between the wars, that one can never forget. And she's the subject of today's Czechs in History.

When still in operation, Czech steam locomotives won international acclaim in the world of railways. Although their technical data and construction parametres are generally known, their real creators mostly remain anonymous. Our Czech in History this week is one of them, someone who not only designed locomotives but painted them in an outstanding manner as well. His name was Vilem Kreibich.

Today's Czech in History is Jan Kotera, a well-known Czech architect of the turn of the 20th century. When he arrived in Prague after finishing his studies in Vienna, he was not welcomed very warmly, but he was firmly resolved to materialise his ideas, and thanks to his stubbornness, a new architectural style appeared in the Czech Lands.

At the turn of the 15th century, Wenceslas IV ruled the Czech kingdom. Unlike his father, the Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and his step-brother, king Sigismund, Wenceslas was a controversial figure, whom we can neither solely praise nor criticize. While Charles IV had established a good system of government in the Czech lands, this was not a tradition continued in the reign of Wenceslas.

I was recently involved in making a film about Lidice, the Czech village that the Nazis wiped off the map in June 1942. In the course of my research I met many people from and connected with the village, including relatives of Josef Horak, one of only two men from Lidice to survive the Nazi massacre. The following programme tells his story.