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When many of his friends were starting university, Pavel Vošický was getting a different sort of education, hearing the stories of political prisoners of various stripes in some of the most notorious jails in communist Czechoslovakia. Barely out of his teens, Vošický had been found guilty of sedition while on military service.

Forty years ago this week, on 8 April 1975, Václav Havel sent an open letter to Czechoslovakia’s President Gustav Husák. The letter was to become one of the key documents of dissent during the period of “normalization”. It outlined the creeping fear, apathy and humiliation faced by Czechs and Slovaks amid the cultural stagnation in the first years after the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. Today times are very different, but the warnings in the letter remain as relevant as ever. Azadeh Mohammadi is a Prague-based student from Iran, who came across the

This year‘s Easter Monday programme is dedicated to Czech Easter cuisine which is quite different from what you will find on the typical Czech table during the rest of the year. Radio Prague talked to Lucie Kohoutová, a young Prague-based food blogger and sommelier, better known in the foodie circles as Coq au Vin.

Two Czech women who were kidnapped in Pakistan in 2013 returned home on Friday after the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation IHH secured their release. The good news reverberated around the country, but even 48 hours later, no details have emerged as to who held the young women captive or where they spent the past two years.

We pay tribute to one of the leading Czech translators from English, Pavel Medek, who died on Tuesday at the age of 63. Mr Medek was best known for translating all seven books of the Harry Potter series, together with his brother Vladimír. Jan Velinger spoke to the translator back in 2003 and began by asking him if he recalled the first time he was introduced to the Harry Potter world:

This is the second of a two part special which focuses on American genealogist and amateur historian Paul Polansky and how he brought to Czech and worldwide attention the existence of the Czech camp for Roma at Lety during the Second World War.

This is the first of a two part programme which focuses on American genealogist and amateur historian Paul Polansky and how he brought to Czech and worldwide attention the existence of the Czech camp for Roma at Lety during the Second World War.

The terrorist attacks in Paris have put the spotlight on Europe’s Muslim minorities, triggering broad debate on Islamic radicalism, immigration policy and the concept of a multi-cultural Europe. In this special program we’ll take a closer look at the Czech Republic’s small Muslim community, how it is perceived by the majority population and how it has been impacted by the developments in Europe.

The recently opened Pop Art Centre in Prague’s Old Town features works by the likes of Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Indiana. But the biggest draw at the gallery on Husová St. will no doubt be pieces by Andy Warhol. The pop art pioneer had close ties to this part of the world, given that his family were Ruthenes who came from what is today northeastern Slovakia. Among those at the launch of the Pop Art Centre was Warhol’s nephew James Warhola, himself a noted book illustrator. Indeed, paintings by James Warhola from the book Uncle Andy’s – drawing

Radio Prague has a special music programme this New Year’s Eve looking back just a little at the year that was 2014.