Jaroslav Drobný was part of the Czechoslovak ice hockey team that won the country’s first World Championships in ice hockey in 1947. He would go on to win in the Wimbledon doubles in 1954 – as a citizen of Egypt.
Photographer Josef Koudelka is world famous for works such as his Gypsies series, indelible shots of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of his native Czechoslovakia and, in more recent times, powerful landscapes. Now 83, Koudelka has donated many of the key parts of his collection to the Czech state.
The jailing of members and associates of the Plastic People of the Universe famously sparked Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77 human rights movement. The underground rock legends’ discography is the subject of a new book, A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe.
Libeň was annexed to Prague as the last suburb before the establishment of Czechoslovakia. The largest district of Prague 8 has witnessed many historical events.
America’s “Second City” has a long Czech history. Once home to a lively community of immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia, the suburb of Cicero still has a school named after the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
Members of the Czechoslovak Legionaries Association took part in a ceremonial march through Prague to celebrate their 100th anniversary at the weekend.
