Czechast, Radio Prague International

Epizodai

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  Jewish, Czech and caught in the debate over Gaza: Two scholars reflect on life after October 7 05.09.2026 39min

  What does it mean to be Jewish and Czech after October 7, 2023, and the devastating war that followed in Gaza? At Brno’s Štetl Fest, Czechast spoke to historian Anna Hájková (University of Warwick) and Israel expert Irena Kalhousová (Charles University) about antisemitism, Israel, the political left and the peculiar position of Jews in Czech society. 
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  Václav Klaus: Europe needs more than reform – it needs fundamental change 29.08.2026 31min

  More than 35 years after the fall of communism, how close is the Czech Republic to the free society and free-market economy envisioned in the early 1990s? In this episode of Czechast, former Czech president and prime minister Václav Klaus argues that much of Europe is now moving in the opposite direction. Speaking to Vít Pohanka, he discusses the European Union, the euro, the war in Ukraine and the political forces challenging Europe’s mainstream.
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  Letters from Brno: one American’s journey into a family history lost to the Holocaust 28.08.2026 22min

  Karen Kruger grew up in the United States unaware that her mother was Jewish and had escaped Czechoslovakia on a Kindertransport. Discovering that secret set the Holocaust educator and filmmaker on a decades-long search that resulted in Letters from Brno and repeated journeys to South Moravia. Speaking to Czechast during ŠTETL FEST, Kruger explains how confronting a painful family history gradually turned into an unexpected sense of belonging.
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  Václav Klaus, the Pražák: A controversial politician’s very personal Prague 22.08.2026 15min

  Václav Klaus is known internationally as a politician who has never shied away from controversy, from questioning policies designed to fight climate change to his views on Russia’s war against Ukraine. But this episode of Czechast reveals a more personal side of the former Czech president: Václav Klaus the Pražák. Born and raised in Vinohrady, he looks back on more than eight decades of life in a changing Prague – and has some typically strong opinions about the city of today.
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  Can trees keep Prague cool as temperatures rise? 15.08.2026 40min

  Prague is already feeling the effects of a warming climate, particularly during increasingly intense summer heat waves. Jan Richter, a climate change adaptation specialist at Prague City Hall, believes the answer lies partly beneath our feet: giving trees enough underground space, retaining rainwater and bringing more vegetation into even the historic centre. In this episode of Czechast, he also explains how a Fulbright scholarship in the United States and the urban farms of Detroit helped shape his ideas about the resilient city of the future.
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  Czech monuments tell us more about ourselves than about history, says historian 08.08.2026 1val 1min

  For centuries, paintings, monuments and public buildings have shaped the way Czechs understand their past. According to art historian and Charles University Professor Vít Vlnas, works of art often tell us less about the historical events they portray than about the period in which they were created. In an interview for Czechast, he reflects on Baroque art, Charles Bridge, collective memory and why modern generations are beginning to see Czech history differently.
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  Beyond Prague: the Czechia most visitors never see 01.08.2026 24min

  For the latest episode of Czechast, regional geographer and president of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University Jaroslav Koutský reflects on the changing map of Czechia. He discusses why some regions have reinvented themselves while others continue to face deep social challenges, and why geography still shapes everyday life.
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  Microphones against tanks: The voice of freedom on the airwaves and the invasion meant to silence it (3) 25.07.2026 28min

  The second half of the 1960s brought political thaw to stagnant Czechoslovakia and, with it, a breath of freedom that inevitably spread through the corridors of Czechoslovak Radio. International broadcasting, until then a strict and uncompromising instrument of communist propaganda, slowly began to change its tone. Czechoslovakia was opening up to the world, and the airwaves no longer carried only rigid ideological dictates.
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  From Oxford and America Back to Prague: Milan Babík on Czech education, Havel and today's politics 25.07.2026 1val 3min

  After almost thirty years spent studying and teaching in the United States and Britain, political scientist and writer Milan Babík has returned to Prague. In an interview for Czechast, he speaks about adapting to life back in Czechia, the strengths and weaknesses of Czech education, the troubled future of the Václav Havel Library and why he still finds hope in ordinary human relationships.
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  Linda Nosková and Karolína Muchová reflect on historic Czech Wimbledon final 13.07.2026 16min

  Linda Nosková and Karolína Muchová made history in the first all-Czech Grand Slam singles final. This special edition of Czechast brings their reactions in their own words – Nosková speaking on Centre Court moments after winning Wimbledon and Muchová reflecting on a painful defeat at her press conference.
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  Where to touch nuclear physics in Prague 11.07.2026 32min

  Few universities in the world can offer students hands-on experience with a real nuclear reactor. This episode of Czechast takes listeners inside the Czech Technical University in Prague with Professor Jan Rataj, head of the Department of Nuclear Reactors.
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  The 17th century witch trials in northern Moravia: was everything really as we thought? 04.07.2026 45min

  The witch trials in northern Moravia claimed nearly two hundred lives and remain one of the darkest episodes in the history of today's Czechia. In Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast, Vít Pohanka and Rob Cameron revisit the story with historian Jaroslav Čechura. The episode explores both the traditional interpretation of the trials and a thought-provoking new perspective on their origins.
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  Blood in Bohemia: the rise and assassination of Albrecht von Wallenstein 27.06.2026 38min

  Military commander, entrepreneur, statesman—or traitor? The latest episode of Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast by Radio Prague International, explores the remarkable life of Albrecht von Wallenstein. Historian Jaroslav Čechura explains how a Bohemian nobleman rose to become the Emperor's most powerful general before being assassinated by his own officers.
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  The day Bohemia lost its head(s) 20.06.2026 50min

  The execution of twenty-seven leaders of the Bohemian Revolt on Prague's Old Town Square ranks among the most dramatic public executions in European history. In this episode of Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast, Rob Cameron and Vít Pohanka retrace the events that followed the Battle of White Mountain and examine how one morning in June 1621 transformed the Czech lands for centuries.
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  St. Martin in the Wall: one of Prague's oldest—and most welcoming—churches 15.06.2026 19min

  In the latest episode of Prague Off the Beaten Track, a Czechast series, we step inside the Church of St. Martin in the Wall, one of Prague's oldest and least-known historic churches. Hidden just off Národní třída, it played a remarkable role in the Hussite movement and today offers one of the city's most welcoming and distinctive Protestant communities.
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  Blood in Bohemia: the Second Defenestration of Prague and the window that changed Europe 13.06.2026 38min

  The Second Defenestration of Prague is one of the best-known episodes in Czech history, yet the dramatic fall from the windows of Prague Castle was only the beginning. In Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast, journalists Vít Pohanka and Rob Cameron explore how a failed triple murder became the spark that ignited the Thirty Years' War and changed the course of European history.
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  Blood in Bohemia: how a sermon in Prague turned into a massacre in 1419 06.06.2026 32min

  The First Prague Defenestration is one of the most dramatic turning points in Czech history. In Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast, Vít Pohanka and Rob Cameron trace how religious tension, fear, and politics led to violence in Prague in 1419. With insights from historian Eva Doležalová, the episode shows how one act helped ignite the Hussite Wars.
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  Blood in Bohemia: castration, blinding, and murder in the Přemyslid dynasty 30.05.2026 27min

  Violence in medieval Bohemia was nothing new—but the fate of Duke Jaromír stands apart. Mutilated by his own brothers and killed in a shocking final act, his story reveals how power struggles could turn deeply brutal. In this episode of Blood in Bohemia, we explore one of the darkest chapters of the Přemyslid dynasty.
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  Czechast special: Reconciliation, protest and history as Sudeten Germans meet in Brno 25.05.2026 26min

  For this Czechast special, Vít Pohanka joins the March of Reconciliation from Pohořelice to Brno, where painful memories of the post-war expulsion of German-speaking residents still resonate. This year’s event carried added weight, as Brno hosted the Sudeten German Association’s annual gathering for the first time in history. Alongside calls for reconciliation came loud protests, revealing how emotionally charged the subject remains.
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  Blood in Bohemia: the brutal fall of the Vršovci clan 23.05.2026 28min

  A powerful noble family rises close to the centre of power—and then faces sudden and devastating violence. In Blood in Bohemia, a special series of Czechast, the episode explores the story of the Vršovci and their bloody downfall. It raises a deeper question: what happens when power exists without security?