Czechia
Czechia, officially the Czech Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria. Prague is both its capital and largest city. The country includes the historic regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and part of Silesia, with a landscape of rolling plains, wooded hills, river valleys, and mountains along its borders. Czech is the official language.
For centuries, the Czech lands formed part of the Kingdom of Bohemia and later the Habsburg Empire. Following the First World War, they joined with Slovakia to establish Czechoslovakia in 1918. The country experienced Nazi occupation during the Second World War and more than four decades of communist rule afterward. The peaceful Velvet Revolution ended communist government in 1989, and Czechia became an independent country when Czechoslovakia separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Recent Articles
The Blessing Hands
While touring the historic Jewish Cemetery in Prague, one of the symbols we learned to recognize was this carving of two hands. At first glance it appears to be a simple decorative image, but it is actually one of the oldest and most meaningful symbols found in Jewish cemeteries. The carving identifies the deceased as […]
The Star of David at Terezín National Cemetery
Traveling through the Czech Republic, Marty and I visited Terezín, one of the places that has remained with me long after our journey ended. Unlike many historic sites that celebrate achievement or commemorate victory, Terezín exists to remember unimaginable human suffering and to ensure that those who died are never forgotten. Standing within the National […]
