#czech

And thus to my final and most melancholy point: a great number of Stalin's enforcers and henchmen in Eastern Europe were Jews. And not just a great number, but a great proportion. The proportion was especially high in the secret police and 'security' departments, where no doubt revenge played its own part, as did the ideological attachment to Communism that was so strong among internationally minded Jews at that period: Jews like David Szmulevski. There were reasonably strong indigenous Communist forces in Czechoslovakia and East Germany, but in Hungary and Poland the Communists were a small minority and knew it, were dependent on the Red Army and aware of the fact, and were disproportionately Jewish and widely detested for that reason. Many of the penal labor camps constructed by the Nazis were later used as holding pens for German deportees by the Communists, and some of those who ran these grim places were Jewish. Nobody from Israel or the diaspora who goes to the East of Europe on a family-history fishing-trip should be unaware of the chance that they will find out both much less and much more than the package-tour had promised them. It's easy to say, with Albert Camus, 'neither victims nor executioners.' But real history is more pitiless even than you had been told it was. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#camus #communism #czechoslovakia #david-szmulevski #east-germany

Complaining and arguing will not help. We are fully concentrating on the game against the Czechs. ↗

— Oliver Kahn

#arguing #complaining #concentrating #czechs #fully

We have to be thankful to the Czechs that they did their duty. The Czech Republic won, I can't believe it. It was a huge party with all the people here. ↗

— Ruud van Nistelrooy

#believe #czech #czech republic #czechs #did

Well, I'm Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it's my name. ↗

— Kim Novak

#i #matter #name #polish #well

I think we have a good team, but soccer fans will know that we're in a really tough group. The three teams in our group are really strong. The Czech Republic is a very good team, Italy is traditionally a powerhouse, and Ghana is one of the best teams in Africa. ↗

— Claudio Reyna

#best #czech #czech republic #fans #ghana

You know what happened, you know, in 1938: France, England, you know, just sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler. ↗

— Milos Forman

#england #france #happened #hitler #just

I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy. ↗

— Brian Eno

#coming #conflict #countries #czech #czech republic

There was the best teachers from the Czech Philharmonic, highly dedicated people, some of the best musicians in the world passing on the knowledge about the country, about the principles, and about the music. ↗

— Miroslav Vitous

#best #country #czech #dedicated #highly