Prague Talk Radio Prague International

Photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková documented her own turbulent life, and minorities such as homosexuals and Romanies, in the final decades of communism in Czechoslovakia. Some of her best known pictures come from an underground gay and lesbian bar in Prague called T-Club. In those years Jarcovjáková had no real hope of showing her often raw, black and white work publicly. However she eventually did find acclaim, including through a major 2019 exhibition in France’s Arles that really made her name internationally.

The leaders of the newly established Czechoslovakia should have done far more to ensure its stability. So says historian Professor Igor Lukeš, in an interview that also looks at 1990s Czech politics, NATO enlargement, Russia and much more.

Martin Klíma was a prime mover behind the November 1989 student gathering that sparked the Velvet Revolution. He has since found enormous success with role-playing games, including as co-founder of the hit company Warhorse Studios.

When Dana Huňátová joined Czechoslovakia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late 1989 she literally came across a red telephone to Moscow. As head of office of new minister Jiří Dienstbier she was closely involved in the deep overhaul of the ministry required after four decades of communism.

František Vrábel is an expert on Russia’s infiltration of Czech society via sophisticated online disinformation. He discusses efforts to combat Kremlin propaganda, says regulating Facebook is key and explains his own motivations for working “mostly for free” in this area.

Has Putin dangerously lost touch with reality? And how are things most likely to play out now, following the launch of his brutal war against Ukraine? Leading Czech expert on Russia Michael Romancov discusses those questions, and others pertaining to the Czech Republic.