Rozhovor Britských listů 127. Měl by být Julius Fučík v pantheonu Národního muzea? [Should Julius Fučík be in the Pantheon of the Czech National Museum?]

Michal Lukeš, the director of the Czech National Museum in Prague, announced recently that instead of the bust of the communist hero Julius Fučík, he wants to place a bust of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph into the Pantheon of the Czech National Museum. Fučík was an interwar communist journalist who was arrested by the Gestapo during the Second World War, was executed in 1943 and became internationally famous after the war with his Report from the Gallows, written in the Nazi prison and smuggled out. Fučík was a major icon of the post-war Czechoslovak Stalinist regime, yet later he was accused of having betrayed his fellow-resistance fighters to the Gestapo, an accusation which has been recently proven to be untrue. Lukeš´s provocative statements have provoked a stimulating debate in the Czech Republic about the role of major historical figures and their evaluation. Jan Čulík discusses these issues with Prague journalist and cultural commentator Štefan Švec. The interview was broadcast by the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from 15th September 2017