Kafkadesk

21/03/2024

🇸🇰🇭🇺 Our latest piece just dropped: an exclusive and clearly very real interview with Viktor Orban and Robert Fico as Hungary and Slovakia launch the V2 👇

Komarno/Komarom -A convergence is haunting the Euro-Atlantic – the convergence of illiberalism. In recent days this convergence has been on stark display in the sister Danubian towns of Komárno, on…

22/01/2024

🇨🇿 Kafkadesk is back with its latest podcast episode, looking at the growing social discontent in the Czech Republic, and political perspectives for 2024 👇

Prague, Czech Republic – In this episode, Kafkadesk contributor Adrien Beauduin interviews political scientist Jiří Koubek of Charles University in Prague about the roots of nationwide social…

05/10/2023

🇭🇺 Hungary-founded Lazy Women overcome gender stereotypes and build a new kind of feminist community in Europe.

Learn more about their actions and their latest crowdfunding initiative 👇

Support Lazy Women now to help them become an independent media. Budapest, Hungary – Looking at how Lazy Women, partners of Kafkadesk, overcomes gender stereotypes and build a new kind of fem…

26/09/2023

🇸🇰 New podcast is out! In this episode, we talk about Saturday's high-stakes elections in Slovakia with political sociologist Michal Vašečka, president of the Bratislava Policy Institute

Bratislava, Slovakia – In this episode, Kafkadesk contributor Adrien Beauduin interviews political sociologist Michal Vašečka, president of the Bratislava Policy Institute, about the Slovak p…

12/07/2023

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Sad news coming in from Paris: Milan Kundera died yesterday at the age of 94.

Farewell to truly one of the greats.

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27/05/2023

🇸🇰🇨🇿 81 years ago, the British-trained Slovak and Czech operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš ambushed the car of the notorious “Butcher of Prague” Reinhard Heydrich

On May 27, 1942, the British-trained Slovak and Czech operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš ambushed the car of the notorious “Butcher of Prague” Reinhard Heydrich, who d…

26/05/2023

🇨🇿🇸🇰 Tomorrow is the anniversary of Operation Anthropoid, or the daring assassination in occupied Czechoslovakia of Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler's third in command.

Read our not-so-good review of the 2016 Anthropoid film 👇

Revisiting old classics, discovering hidden gems and exploring the contemporary movie scene: every month, Kafkadesk’s CineClub brings you new insights and expert film reviews of the …

25/05/2023

🇵🇱 Polish resistance hero Witold Pilecki was executed in 1948, exactly 75 years ago.

👉 Voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in 1940 to gather intelligence from the inside and organize inmate resistance, Pilecki provided the Polish underground with invaluable information about the camp which was then forwarded via the Polish resistance to the British government in London.

👉 He managed to escape from Auschwitz in 1943 to convince the Home Army to mount an operation to liberate the N**i concentration camp. In vain. He was arrested by the communist authorities in 1947, repeateadly tortured and executed on May 25, 1948.

👉 Read more about his incredible life here: https://kafkadesk.org/2021/09/19/on-this-day-in-1940-polish-resistance-hero-witold-pilecki-was-voluntarily-sent-to-auschwitz/

24/05/2023

🇨🇿 in 1391, the Bethlehem Chapel was founded in Prague’s Old Town as the first preaching chapel in Europe

On May 24, 1391, the Bethlehem Chapel was founded in Prague’s Old Town as the first preaching chapel in Europe, cementing its central place in Czech medieval history and its pivotal role in the eme…

23/05/2023

🇨🇿 Nearly 200 years after the First Defenestration of Prague, Czechs renewed the experience in 1618

On May 23, 1618, two Catholic councillors sent by Vienna to meet with Bohemian nobles were thrown out from the upper floors of the Prague castle, triggering the Bohemian Revolt against Habsbur…

22/05/2023

🇨🇿🇷🇴🇵🇱 Welcome to dog country 🐶

21/05/2023

🇱🇹🇵🇱 in 1674, the Polish military commander John Sobieski was elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He would later come to be known as the “Savior of Vienna”

On May 21, 1674, the Polish military commander John Sobieski was elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He would later come to be known as the “Savior of Vienna and Western European ci…

20/05/2023

🚅 Possible European night train connections by 2030 👍

19/05/2023

🇭🇺 The most famous cube in the world was invented nearly 50 years ago by Hungarian professor Ernő Rubik

On May 19, 1974, Hungarian professor Ernő Rubik designed his first “Magic Cube” as a way to help his students understand three-dimensional problems. With more than 450 million sold to d…

18/05/2023

🇨🇿 7 years ago, the Czech government adopted 'Czechia' as its official short form English-language name. Here's the explanation why

Prague, Czech Republic – Kafkadesk spoke with Petr Pavlínek, member of the Civic Initiative Czechia (Občanská iniciativa Česko), an organization on the frontline of the decades-long debate su…

17/05/2023

🇭🇺 "Who knows what would have influenced me more in the long run if I hadn’t left, the few independent newsrooms or 80% of the Hungarian media owned by the governing party?", asks Lazy Women's Dorina Nagy

Budapest, Hungary – I spent most of my formative years growing up in the Hungarian countryside. When the world later opened up to me as a result of going to university and travelling, I reali…

16/05/2023

🇨🇿🇸🇰 [Parody section] "It really wasn't that bad, but at least she got it out of her system now", Markéta commented after indulging her Slovak colleague's incoherent rambling for more than 10 minutes

Because humour is a fitting tool to discuss a world gone topsy-turvy, Kafkadesk is happy to present its new Satire column. Brno, Czech Republic – Czech co-workers Markéta, Filip and…

15/05/2023

🇨🇿🇺🇸 Somewhere in Texas tonight, someone is two-stepping across the hardwood floor of one the state’s numerous Dance Halls. But for how much longer?

As much a part of the Lone Star State’s identity as cattle drives and Friday night football, Dance Halls, built by German and Czech immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th century, are now threatened with extinction.

Prague, Czech Republic – Somewhere in Texas tonight, someone is two-stepping across the hardwood floor of one the state’s numerous Dance Halls. But for how much longer? As much a part o…