Appeasement Then and Now

newyork

80 years since the End of WWII series

A talk by Igor Lukes
Professor of History and International Relations, Boston University

Monday MAY 5, 2025, at 7 PM
Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73 St (cinema), Manhattan

Ukraine

In 1945, people asked: Can we coexist in peace? Will there be another war? In 2025, we ask the same questions. The talk 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.

Seating is limited
Free to the public. Suggested donation $15

REGISTER on Eventbrite.

Igor Lukes is a Professor of History and International Relations at Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston Universit. He has written about the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary politics. His books include Dejiny a doba postfakticka: eseje, uvahy, glosy (2022), On the Edge of the Cold War: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Prague (2012), Rudolf Slansky: His Trials and Trial (2006), Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler: The Diplomacy of Edvard Benes in the 1930?s (1996). He is the recipient of the Central Intelligence Agency 2012 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Literature on Intelligence and the 2000 Stanley Z. Pech Prize. Lukes is Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic in Boston.

When the War Ended: Voices of Czech-American Eyewitnesses

newyork

80 Years since the End of WWII series
An audio-visual presentation by Julie Urbišová

Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 7.15 PM(!)
Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan
321 E73 St, 3rd floor

Julie Urbišová’s talk will feature remarkable personal stories about survival, hope, and new beginnings shared by Czech immigrants who lived through WWII. She collected these accounts as part of her work for Pam?? národa (Memory of Nations), one of Europe’s largest oral history projects. Since 2008, it has provided open access to firsthand testimonies from those who endured Nazism and Communism, ensuring that history’s darkest times are never forgotten.

Following the presentation, Julie will hold a live conversation with several Czech-Americans who lived during the war

Please note: At 6 PM, our program will be preceded by a talk on artistic responses to WWII by Professor Cynthia Paces from The College of New Jersey.

Seating is limited.
Free to the public. Suggested donation $15.

Register on Eventbrite:

Julie Urbišová is a Czech-born journalist who studied Journalism and Ethnology at Charles University in Prague. Growing up near Ostrava in the Hlu?ínsko region, which was part of Germany until 1920, Julie developed a deep interest in people’s stories. She was affected by war memories in her village, where all the men, including her grandfather, were forced to enlist in the German Wehrmacht armed forces during WWII. In 2007, Julie moved to New Orleans to continue her studies at the University of New Orleans and has since settled there with her Turkish husband and two daughters. She is the author of Doma v Nola (At Home in Nola), a book about New Orleans’ history and culture, based on her stories for Czech radio. She also hosts the podcast Doma ve Státech (At Home in the States). Since 2021, Julie has collaborated with Memory of Nations, traveling across the U.S. to interview Czechs and preserve their stories.

This event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) in collaboration with the Czech Center New York with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA).

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