How Oxford philosophers supported Czech dissidents — new Brno exhibition tells the story
Sparks of Freedom — that is the name of a new exhibition at Brno’s Moravian Museum. It tells how British academics and intellectuals reached across the Iron Curtain to support Czech dissidents in the 1980s, focusing on the work of the Jan Hus Educational Foundation and the quiet acts of courage that helped keep independent thought alive under communist rule.
Sparks of Freedom: remembering British help for Czech dissidents
In Brno’s Moravian Museum, visitors wander among black-and-white photographs showing faces of courage from the 1980s. The new exhibition Sparks of Freedom tells how mainly British academics and intellectuals helped Czech dissidents in the dark years of late communism. It is a reminder of solidarity that crossed borders — at a time when even talking philosophy could get you expelled or worse.
One of the central figures in this story is Barbara Day, a British writer and theatre expert who worked closely with the Jan Hus Educational Foundation, the organisation at the heart of the exhibition.
Origins in a letter from Prague
Barbara explains that the Foundation was born out of a single letter written by a Czech philosopher, Julius Tomin, who had been expelled from university after the Soviet invasion:
“It was created in response to a letter from one of the Czech philosophers who’d been expelled from the university during the purges that followed the Russian invasion. He continued teaching in his flat — some of his former students, along with young people who were forbidden to study at university because their parents were politically involved. After several years, he felt he had taught them everything he could, and so he wrote a letter to four Western universities, inviting them to come and lecture at his seminar in Prague.”
That appeal reached Oxford University, where a group of academics decided they had a moral duty to help. Among them was Kathy Wilkes, who travelled to Prague in 1979 and became one of the leading figures in the underground network.
“The philosophers in Oxford discussed it and said, ‘Of course, if a colleague of ours asks for help, it’s our duty to help.’ They decided to send a lecturer to Prague. The person they chose was Kathy Wilkes from St. Hilda’s College. She came to Prague at Easter 1979 and was deeply moved by the people she met and by the quality of discussion at the seminar.”
Building bridges between East and West
In time, the Jan Hus Educational Foundation became one of the most important bridges between East and West, providing books, lectures, and even typewriter ribbons for the underground intellectual life of Czechoslovakia. Barbara Day herself became involved through her theatre research:
“There was one particular company based in Brno that I wanted to bring to England. With the help of the British Council, I organised a festival at Bristol University called Bristol Czech Fest in 1985. During that event, Petr Oslzlý, the dramaturg of the Brno theatre, told his British collaborators that there were actually two important things happening in Czechoslovakia – the theatre and the underground seminars. He decided to bring us together since we were all in Britain at the same time, and that’s how it began.”
Throughout the 1980s, this cooperation continued under the watchful eyes of the secret police. Yet small acts of solidarity — books, ideas, and friendship — helped nurture the intellectual resistance that would eventually lead to the Velvet Revolution.
“To be able to do something concrete for people who had been crushed and marginalised, sacked from their jobs, forced into menial work — that was a privilege. I often thought how lucky we were with our education in Britain and felt a need to give something back — especially to those who were working against such odds.”
From philosophy to freedom
The exhibition also features memories of people who witnessed that cooperation from the outside, among them Nancy Durham, a Canadian journalist who was based in Britain. She travelled frequently to Czechoslovakia during the 1980s and saw both the fear and courage of the time.
“My late husband, Bill Newton-Smith, was expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1980 for giving a philosophy lecture in Prague, illegally. It was probably one of the best things the Czech police could have done, because it became front-page news around the world. It showed how absurd it was that you needed official permission to talk about philosophy — or even to play music or make a statement.”
Durham remembers bringing typewriter ribbons to Václav Havel and other small but symbolic gestures that helped keep the underground movement alive. Standing outside the Moravian Museum today, she reflects on why this history still resonates:
“Human rights and freedom are still a struggle — everywhere, and maybe more than ever. The story of the Jan Hus Foundation shows that even small actions can make a difference. We were just a few people meeting others — there was no internet — and yet, somehow, the word got out.”
Sparks of Freedom runs at the Moravian Museum in Brno from October 15th until April 19th, 2026. It stands as a tribute to philosophers, students, and ordinary people who risked a great deal for the right to learn and to speak — and to those abroad who chose to help them.
