Czechs in History | All stories

Southern Moravia is an especially attractive part of the Czech Republic to visit in the summer and autumn months, full of gorgeous scenery and magnificent castles. Recently, I visited Bitov, whose history goes back to the 11th century. Near the Czech-Austrian border, the castle got its name from the Latin "Vetus via", meaning "old road", signifying an historic route along the Dyje River to its confluence with the Zeletava. Built on a dramatic promontory, the castle overlooks deep forests and wide hills. The castle's majesty is reflected on the shimmering

This week citizens of Hiroshima, but also the rest of the world will mark the 60th anniversary of the first use of the atomic bomb in war. On the morning of August 6th, 1945 - in an instant - most of Hiroshima ceased to exist.

No one knows what prehistoric mammoths sounded like but you are made to believe that what you hear is the genuine roar of the three-dimensional furry, white-tusked giant that stares at you just as you enter the exhibition room at Prague Castle.

In this Czechs in History we'll be looking at one of the most famous and enduring Czech organisations ever, the patriotic athletics body known as Sokol - or Falcon - a gymnastics organisation founded in Bohemia in 1862, that soon spread to various countries around the world, including Slovenia, Poland, the U.S., and Australia. For our purposes, though, we'll be looking at the Sokol movement in Canada, which is now 94 years old. Jan Velinger recently spent a month in Toronto meeting Czech-Canadians who had at least two things in common: membership

Jara Cimrman is known to many in this country as perhaps the greatest Czech inventor, artist, explorer and musician of all time. He has been the subject of a dozen plays, which are frequently staged in a Prague theatre that is named after him. The plays aim to highlight the contribution of a man who many believe has never received proper recognition for his achievements.

All of us are familiar with the Olympics and many moments of sweet victory, captured in time, that slowly form part of the patchwork of nations' collective identities. There are Czechs who will never forget the feats of runners like Emil Zatopek and his triple triumph in Helsinki. "Less than 200 metres to go it's Zatopek in front! Zatopek wins...what a beautiful race!" Others will always remember gymnast Vera Caslavska's seven gold.

In this edition of Czechs in History, we look at the life and career of Gustav Husak, a Slovak native who left an indelible mark on Czech history as the last communist president of Czechoslovakia. Gustav Husak was born in Bratislava in 1913. A gifted and talented student, he trained as a lawyer at Comenius University, where he also joined the Communist Party in 1933.

In this edition of Czechs in History we look at the life and work of Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol, arguably one of the most important photographers of the early half of the 20th century. Born in 1883 in the mining town of Pribram, west of Prague, Drtikol would go on to study photography in Munich, where he would be heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau. Early on he divided his time among both drawing and photography, but focused primarily on the latter upon his return home; both as an art form and as a means for making a living. In the

October 31st - Halloween - is just around the corner, a date that historically marks the end of the harvest and the slow ushering in of long dark winter. A time of year humans long believed saw the fading of the boundary between the living and the dead, so that shades again walked the earth, among them - Vampyres - stalking the living for their blood.

In this edition of 'Czechs in History,' Brian Kenety takes a look at the life of Czechoslovakia's greatest race car driver, Eliska Junkova, the "queen of the steering wheel" and Jazz Age belle, whose stellar career came to a screeching halt after a tragic accident claimed the love of her life.