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For Czechs and Slovaks, New Year’s Day has a special meaning as the independent Czech and Slovak Republics emerged 20 years ago today. But what strained their relations while they were still living in one country? Why did Czechoslovakia split against the wishes of most of its inhabitants? And what lessons can be learned from the history of their common country? In our special New Year’s Day programme, we discuss these issues with Jan Rychlík from the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University, and political scientist and historian Juraj Marušiak

On this last day of 2012, Radio Prague has prepared a special music show inspired by some of the events and particularly the mood of the past year. Much of this year in the Czech Republic was marked by corruption and political scandal. We take a look at some of the music that was inspired by these events, and also glance back at Czech songs that have expressed disgruntlement and protest against the political system of the time.

In this Christmas special I look at the work of visionary filmmaker Karel Zeman and talk to his daughter Ludmila – acclaimed children’s book author & illustrator. Also highlighted: the new Karel Zeman Museum in Prague and a visit by Grade 2 schoolchildren.

A traditional Czech toyshop is full of hums, whirrs, rattles and whistles; such is the diversity of the toys that for generations have been made in Bohemia and Moravia. In this special Christmas programme we look at this country’s toy making traditions. I’ll be joining Ivan Karhan, who knows all there is to know about Czech toys and toymakers – past and present.

On Christmas Eve, most Czech families will like every year sit down to special dinner before rushing to the Christmas tree. They will unwrap their presents and some might sing a few carols, and even engage in some traditional Christmas customs such as floating walnut shells, halving an apple or even pouring melted led. But most people are just likely to sit back and watch TV which each year features all the popular fairytales. But what happens in families with mixed backgrounds? How do they celebrate Christmas and explain the different traditions

Among those closest to Václav Havel was Michael Žantovský. The two were among the founders of the opposition Civic Forum in the whirlwind period of the Velvet Revolution, which toppled Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime after four long decades. Soon after Mr. Havel was elected president on December 29 1989, he made Mr. Žantovský his press spokesperson – and part of a team at Prague Castle that had to learn double-quick how to run a country.

As always in the weeks preceding Christmas, Jews around the world begin the holiday season before their Christian neighbors. The story of Chanukah is not in the sacred texts of the Torah, and those who celebrate it, do so most often at home, eating various foods fried in olive oil, playing games with chocolate Hanukah gelt (chocolate coins), and receiving presents each of the eight nights of the festival. Some, though, prefer to share this holiday of light, as it is called, with others. To see how it is celebrated around Prague, I headed to a creative

Leaders of Jewish organizations, government officials and experts from a number of countries came to Prague this week to review the restitution of Jewish property taken during the Holocaust. The conference, which focused specifically on the area of immovable property, was held three years since the adoption of the Terezín Declaration, a document that sought to ease the process. The conference found that although some progress has been achieved, the declaration seems to have failed to accelerate the restitution of Holocaust-era assets.

Olga Hrubá is today a feisty woman of 85. Way back at the turn of the 1950s she campaigned, from exile in the US, to save the life of her friend Miladá Horáková, a Czechoslovak politician executed by the Communists after a show trial. For the following four decades Olga Hrubá, along with her pastor husband, worked – with some success – to protect the rights of religious believers in Communist states.

This past weekend, many people around the Czech Republic celebrated the feast of Saint Martin’s day. Some baked a goose and shared it with family, some waited to see if Saint Martin will really come on a white horse and others just enjoyed the copious amounts of young Saint Martin’s wine overflowing in wine shops and street fairs all over the country.