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The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and Security Forces Archive on Monday announced the publication of details of the Communist regime’s intelligence service on the internet. The step is the first of its kind in a former Communist country according to the institute. It said the list of names includes 985 staff out of the total 1,028 working at the end of November 1989. Staff worked in foreign embassies and trade offices, in television and radio and at international institutions. The intelligence service was wound up in February 1990.

Twenty years after the fall of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia has retained both its communist label and much of its ideology. In this edition of One on One, our guest is Josef Skála, who recently became one of the party’s deputy leaders. He shares his views on the totalitarian regime of the past and the party’s prospects in the future.

Some of the most important Czech films since 1989 have been screened in a kind of mini-festival that has just come to a conclusion at the famed Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. Six days. 16 films. 10 guest speakers. The series? The Ironic Curtain. Czech Cinema since the Velvet Revolution.

Descending the historic Old Castle Stairs on the way from Prague Castle to the left bank of the Vltava River, an unusual structure will catch your eye in the middle of a small park between the river and a busy road. The five-and-a-half-metre tall wooden watchtower looks strangely out of place among the 19th-century urban architecture. It is an exact replica of a watchtower from a communist-era labour camp near the town of Příbram southwest of Prague. As a symbol of the oppression of the communist regime, the watchtower is part of an extensive outdoor

Looking back at the events of 1989 in Czechoslovakia, most people will probably think of the student demonstration on November 17th which kicked off the Velvet Revolution. The November protest was the last in a series of events that took place that year and were violently suppressed by riot police. One of them was an illegal rally to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia on October 28th, 1989 held on Prague’s Wenceslas Square.

For the last week or so I have been religiously following one television programme every day. It’s not a soap opera that has got its claws into me but the Czechoslovak news 20 years after. There is currently an around 10-minute edited spot every night on the public broadcaster CT24 entitled ‘20 years of freedom – 20 years without Communist Party propaganda.’

One of the biggest events in Prague after the fall of communism was a now-legendary concert by the Rolling Stones at Strahov Stadium in 1990. They were received afterwards at Prague Castle by President Václav Havel, who became quite friendly with the band. Now 20 years later, the Rolling Stones leader Mick Jagger is coming back to the city – he’s one of a number of famous artists playing at a special concert organised by Mr Havel. Another big event marking the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution will be a recreation of the student demonstration

Václav Havel, who led Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, discussed events at that time and developments since on Thursday, at his only public appearance ahead of the revolution’s 20th anniversary. The former president told reporters from around the world that 20 years ago no one knew when change was going to come, but people did sense that “something was in the air”.

How are countries of central and Eastern Europe coping with their communist legacies? Have their societies done well in the transition to democracy over the last two decades? And why do so many people in this region feel nostalgic towards the totalitarian past? And in what ways is the Czech Republic different from other ex-communist states countries in the region? These and other issues were the focus of an international conference “20 Years After” that took place in Prague last week.

The former Czech president Václav Havel on Saturday received Germany’s prestigious Quadriga award at a gala ceremony in Berlin held on the 19th anniversary of the reunification of Germany. The award was also bestowed on the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, as well as musician Marius Mueller-Westernhagen and human rights activist Baerbel Bohley. The annual award is sponsored by Werkstatt Deutschland, a non-profit organization based in Berlin and consists of a small statue resembling the quadriga at the top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and a cash prize of 25,000 Euros.