Iron Curtain

Epidemiologist Ervin Adam helped eradicate polio in Czechoslovakia

Ervin Adam, a world-renowned Czech epidemiologist, died on 3/21/23 at the age of 101 in Houston, Texas. The doctor, who was instrumental in Czechoslovakia being the first country in the world to eradicate polio, went through several concentration camps during World War II because of his Jewish origin and survived a death march. From 1968 he lived in exile – first in Canada and later in the United States. In 2013 he received the prestigious Czech Head Award.

Meda Mladkova

Meda Mladkova was a patron of the arts who helped support Czech artists stuck behind the Iron Curtain. She trained to be a dancer but decided to leave Czechoslovakia after witnessing how terribly the Germans who remained in the country were treated at the end of the Second World War. Even when she met the Ministers of Culture and Education and the Director of the Nationa Gallery, she truthfully and successfully stood up for artistic freedom.

Prague Spring

Prague Spring

In January of 1968, a season of reformation had begun to blossom in a country located in the Iron Curtain's shadow. This movement in Czechoslovakia where government leaders pushed for greater freedom for its citizens came to be known as Prague Spring.