Like every Sunday, check out our weekly KafkaDigest press roundup of the best pieces and most insightful articles on Central Europe in international media (note: access to some of them might be restricted to subscribers only). olga tokarczuk nobel
Poland is becoming a global capital of chutzpah, Foreign Policy
Despite the stifling political and memorial atmosphere surrounding the Holocaust, Poland is experiencing an unprecedented revival of Jewish art and culture.
Dark family secrets expose Hungary’s history problem, Balkan Insight
The grandfather of Zoltan Pokorni, former chairman of the ruling Fidesz party, was a Nazi mass murderer. His father, and communist collaborator. While Pokorni is willing to face the truth about his complicated family (and national) history, he is the member of a party that isn’t willing to agree that history isn’t always black and white, writes Balkan Insight.
Eastern Europe gives more to the west than it gets back, Financial Times
“The richer countries paint themselves as charitable souls and criticise eastern European voters for electing Eurosceptic autocrats who pocket large EU cheques while railing against Brussels”. But looking at the bigger picture, taking into account the brain drain and Western companies profits, a different story unfolds, argues Romanian MEP Clotilde Armand.
Is Prague trolling Moscow by honouring slain Putin critic?, Al Jazeera
Prague’s decision to rename the square where the Russian embassy is located after Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition politician murdered in 2015 near the Kremlin, is the latest example of municipal authorities’ push to reassert the country’s pro-Western orientation. But it also adds to the chaos of the Czech Republic’s foreign policy, torn between the government’s, the president’s and local mayors’, notes Tim Gosling for Al Jazeera.
Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk: ‘Why populist nostalgia will pass’, Financial Times
The FT writers met with Poland’s latest Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Olga Tokarczuk, an outspoken critic of the current government and engaged activist.
On the frontlines for equal marriage in Czech Republic, Medium
A fascinating discussion with Czeslaw Walek, chairman of the Prague Pride and one of the foremost LGBT activists in the Czech Republic, to understand whether or not the Central European country could become the first nation from the former Eastern bloc to legalize same-sex marriage.
Does electing a leader with Jewish roots prove Jobbik has changed?, The Guardian
A few years ago, Hungary’s Jobbik was one of the farthest and most extremist right parties in Europe, but has recently tried to portray itself as a more centrist political force. To what extent should we take that shift at face value? asks The Guardian’s Shaun Walker.
Main photo credit: László Balogh/Reuters
Kafkadesk 
Like every Sunday, check out our weekly KafkaDigest press roundup of the best pieces and most insightful articles on Central Europe in international media (note: access to some of them might be restricted to subscribers only). olga tokarczuk nobel
Poland is becoming a global capital of chutzpah, Foreign Policy
Despite the stifling political and memorial atmosphere surrounding the Holocaust, Poland is experiencing an unprecedented revival of Jewish art and culture.
Dark family secrets expose Hungary’s history problem, Balkan Insight
The grandfather of Zoltan Pokorni, former chairman of the ruling Fidesz party, was a Nazi mass murderer. His father, and communist collaborator. While Pokorni is willing to face the truth about his complicated family (and national) history, he is the member of a party that isn’t willing to agree that history isn’t always black and white, writes Balkan Insight.
Eastern Europe gives more to the west than it gets back, Financial Times
“The richer countries paint themselves as charitable souls and criticise eastern European voters for electing Eurosceptic autocrats who pocket large EU cheques while railing against Brussels”. But looking at the bigger picture, taking into account the brain drain and Western companies profits, a different story unfolds, argues Romanian MEP Clotilde Armand.
Is Prague trolling Moscow by honouring slain Putin critic?, Al Jazeera
Prague’s decision to rename the square where the Russian embassy is located after Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition politician murdered in 2015 near the Kremlin, is the latest example of municipal authorities’ push to reassert the country’s pro-Western orientation. But it also adds to the chaos of the Czech Republic’s foreign policy, torn between the government’s, the president’s and local mayors’, notes Tim Gosling for Al Jazeera.
Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk: ‘Why populist nostalgia will pass’, Financial Times
The FT writers met with Poland’s latest Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Olga Tokarczuk, an outspoken critic of the current government and engaged activist.
On the frontlines for equal marriage in Czech Republic, Medium
A fascinating discussion with Czeslaw Walek, chairman of the Prague Pride and one of the foremost LGBT activists in the Czech Republic, to understand whether or not the Central European country could become the first nation from the former Eastern bloc to legalize same-sex marriage.
Does electing a leader with Jewish roots prove Jobbik has changed?, The Guardian
A few years ago, Hungary’s Jobbik was one of the farthest and most extremist right parties in Europe, but has recently tried to portray itself as a more centrist political force. To what extent should we take that shift at face value? asks The Guardian’s Shaun Walker.
Main photo credit: László Balogh/Reuters