TALK

Czech historian Vaclav Zurek will present the recently published English edition of his book Charles IV: A Portrait of a Medieval Ruler, exploring the life, reign, and historical significance of a man who established Prague as a political, cultural, and intellectual center of the empire.

PRESENTATIONS

Scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals of Czech or Slovak descent to introduce their talent, the subject of their work, project, research, or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes. 

TALK

Historian Hillel Kieval will discuss the cultural background to the Golem story, its traces in traditional Jewish literature, its resonances in Czech culture and memory, and the surprisingly modern settings of the tale’s narration as we have come to know it today.

LECTURE/RECITAL

A thought-provoking musical evening with pianist and musicologist Katelyn Bouska exploring the 19th century Czech American musical tapestry through selected gems and the New York premiere of her own compositional fantasy.

TALK

An illustrated talk by Marcy Arlin and friends showcasing the work of Czech artist Zdenek Kriz in the social, artistic, psychological, and cultural context of the surrealist movement under the communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia.

TALK

Puppeteer Vit Horejs will talk about the history and role of puppetry, including the Spejbl and Hurvinek Theatre in Prague and its founder Josef Skupa, against the sociopolitical backdrop of Czechoslovakia from the 1920s to today.

PRESENTATIONS

Scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals of Czech or Slovak descent to introduce their talent, the subject of their work, project, research, or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes. 

TALK

Zbynek Tarant will discuss Leo Herrmann’s rescue plan for 2,500 Czech Jews by means of a ha‘avara scheme. Without Herrmann, Franz Kafka’s archive would likely have been lost forever.

TALK

Author Daniela Grollova Spenser will be in conversation with Dan La Botz about her new book – a deeply personal yet historically grounded account of Czechoslovakia from the 1930s to the 1990s.

TALK

Tatana Kellner, a multi-disciplinary artist, will discuss her work, charting her journey as an immigrant from Czechoslovakia in 1969, finding her artistic voice, and co-founding the Women’s Studio Workshop.

TALK

Celebration of the legacy of the late Lubomir and Tiree Chmelar, the Prague-Vienna Greenway, and the unique Herb Garden in Valtice.

TALK

Explore remarkable personal stories about survival, hope, and new beginnings shared by Czech immigrants who lived through World War II. 

TALK

Igor Lukes, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, will present new evidence regarding the pre-World War II escalating crisis and point out the parallels between the appeasers in the 1930s and today.

TALK

A lecture with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum. An evening in the spirit of Vaclav Havel, featuring keynote remarks by Anne Applebaum, moderated Q&A with John Shattuck, and wine reception.

TALK

Brenda Flanagan and Hana Waisserova, the co-authors of Women’s Artistic Dissent: Repelling Totalitarianism in Pre-1989 Czechoslovakia, will discuss their book and pay tribute to creative Czech women dissidents.

PRESENTATIONS

Scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals of Czech or Slovak descent to introduce their talent, the subject of their work, project, research, or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes. 

TALK

A special evening celebrating the launch of William Luers’s memoir Uncommon Company. Ambassador Luers will be in conversation with Stephen Heintz, the President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, sharing stories of his incredible career as a US diplomat

TALK

Professor Thomas Ort will explore the uncanny relevance of the early 20th century Czech writer, Karel Capek, for our times' political and technological developments. Capek's fears about the displacement of human labor by machines and the threat of authoritarianism appear closer to their realization than ever since the 1930s.

TALK

Musicologist Michael Beckerman explores music on the “outer edges” of the set of Czech Jewish music in order to ask whether such a set actually exists.

PRESENTATIONS

Scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals of Czech or Slovak descent to introduce their talent, the subject of their work, project, research, or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes. 

EXHIBITION, TALK

An evening honoring the legacy and values of Vaclav Havel, featuring a pop-up exhibition of the bronze sculpture “Citizen/Disappearing Man” by Czech artist Olbram Zoubek and a seminar titled “Vaclav Havel’s Message to Young People.”

TALK

Milan Zonca will revisit this question of the possibility of intellectual and religious contacts between the Jews and the Hussites during the Hussite movement at the turn of the 15th century in Bohemia.

TALK

Gordon Dale, the Inaugural Dr. Jack Gottlieb Scholar in Jewish Music Studies, will examine the spiritual significance of music according to Jewish mysticism, and present melodies associated with important rabbinic figures.

TALK

An intimate evening with Anna and Jordan Rathkopf, an award-winning photography duo who will share their family’s deeply personal story captured in their upcoming book.

TALK

Explore the pivotal role of women in Charter 77 and the broader Czech dissent movement. Kamila Bendova and Martin Palous will discuss how the experiences of the past can help us build bridges between our present and future.

TALK

A lecture dedicated to the topic of Moravia and Silesia as an unique area of the development of Jewish history. It is a place that gave the foundation to many Austrian, Hungarian and Slovak Jewish communities.

TALK, SLOVAK AND CZECH HERITAGE FESTIVAL

Vit Horejs and his guests will share their memories of Majales, a medieval student tradition celebrating spring, mocking professors, elections and officialdom in 1965 Prague, during which the American poet Allen Ginsberg found himself unexpectedly crowned as the King of May.

LECTURE/RECITAL

Pianist and musicologist Katelyn Bouska offers new insights into Antonin Dvorak in America through a special musical tour focused on his compositions, students and contemporaries in the late 19th century. Featuring works by Dvorak, Burleigh, Beach, Sukova-Dvorakova.

TALK

Professor Hynek Wichterle will discuss his stem cell research at Columbia University Medical Center. He developed groundbreaking methods for producing spinal cord neurons from pluripotent embryonic stem cells in a culture dish. 

TALK

Cantor Matt Austerklein will share new research and musical examples which illuminate a dynamic era in Jewish music history.