Frantisek Robert Kraus at the radio station

This photograph is likely from the year 1947, when my father (Frantisek Robert Kraus) was working as a radio commentator. For after the war he again started working for the Czech News Agency (CTK) and for Czechoslovak Radio, where he became the founder and head of the shortwave foreign broadcast department. He also worked there as an announcer in English, French and German, and as the commentator for Central Europe. All that, however, ended at the beginning of the 1950s with the Slansky trials. Within one day my father lost his positions in both CTK and in Radio. With the exception of the publication of 'The Changed Land,' which was only allowed to be published at the price of dramatic changes in the text, from that time on he could only make a living with occasional writing. Thus he focused on his childhood experiences. Stories of Old Prague soon became a rewarding theme, which were used by many newspapers and magazines, including foreign ones. From time to time even a story appeared with a theme of World War II and concentration camps - the concept of the Holocaust wasn't in use yet back then. My father also became one of the main regular contributors to the Jewish Religious Communities' Newsletter. He was the head of a commission that organized parties at the Prague Jewish Community. Parties were held in Maislova Street twice a year - always at Chanukkah and Purim. Thanks to my father, in the 1960s the pick of Czech culture used to go to the Community - my father had many contacts still from the times of the First Republic. He was capable of inviting many well-known people to these events - Jan Werich, Milos Kopecky, Miroslav Hornicek, the singers Karel Gott and Waldemar Matuska and many other artists. People were excited by these parties - after their experiences from the concentration camps and after the events of the political trials with Rudolf Slansky, they represented for them at least a little relaxation, and the Community represented a substitute family for them. They also organized lectures for young people, in which there was a relatively large amount of interest.