See what’s coming up on on the BCSA’s Events Calendar.
Fifty years ago, Czechoslovakia was about to enter a period of ‘normalisation’ following the invasion of that country by the Soviet Union and its allies. Mike Waite (author of Communism and Democracy) and David Parker will draw upon their recent publications to reflect upon the significance of this event for the communist movement and socialism... Read more »
Join UCL SSEES as we host Minister Jan Hamáček (Czech Minister of the Interior), for this discussion and a reception afterwards. With Brexit fast approaching states need to continue working together in order to reassure the public that their safety is paramount. Brexit may to certain aspects weaken, but definitely not break off all ties... Read more »
A testimony to the heady days following the 17 November 1989, this edited footage of interviews and news journals successfully evokes the atmosphere of the 30 days which paved the way to democracy in Czechoslovakia. Casting students and former dissidents led by Vaclav Havel in the main roles it chronicles the Velvet Revolution, when riot... Read more »
Our twenty seventh annual dinner will be held on Friday 23 November in the heart of Bloomsbury. This highlight in the BCSA calendar is a wonderful opportunity for Slovaks, Czechs and Britons to mingle in a convivial atmosphere, to meet old friends and make new ones. Members and non-members alike will be made welcome at... Read more »
FEDERATION OF SLOVAKS IN GREAT BRITAIN Programme British attitudes to the breaking up of Austria-Hungary and the creation of new states Professor Robert Evans, Oxford University Great Britain and the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 Dr. Vladimír Daniš, Federation of Slovaks in Great Britain The End of the Marriage: Explaining the Slovaks Decision to join... Read more »
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT Keen to learn something about the Czechs but too afraid to ask? This one-man show performed in English by Czech actor Tomas Vanek explains some of the cultural pitfalls from the Czech point of view. Beer, knedliky, Karel Gott and the Czech fashion for wearing socks with sandals are... Read more »
Janacek’s two highly personal quartets have earned their places as 20th-century classics of the medium, the first inspired by Tolstoy’s passionate novella The 'Kreutzer Sonata', about an extramarital affair, the second reflecting his own love for the married Kamila Stosslova. Bedrich Smetana: String Quartet No. 2 in D minor Leos Janacek: String Quartet No. 1... Read more »
A lecture by Caroline Cannon-Brookes Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) was Regent of Bohemia for twenty years in the middle of the 16th century. Born the second son of the future Emperor Ferdinand I and Anne of Bohemia, he was highly educated and a cultivated humanist who established a sophisticated court in Prague which embraced both... Read more »
On 16 January 1969, the Prague philosophy student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square to protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. He died three days later. He was 21 years old. Using available sources director Robert Sedlacek reconstructs the final months of Jan Palach´s life describing his path from an affectionate... Read more »
Ladislav Feierabend managed the impossible: he was a member of the war-time Protectorate government and at the same time head of a resistance group in contact with Edvard Beneš in London. So when a messenger was captured and forced to reveal everything, in January 1940 Feierabend embarked on an escape worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.... Read more »
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