Mailbox
Today in Mailbox: 95th anniversary of independent Czechoslovakia, Czech dolls in Japan, Radio Prague QSL card from 1971, monthly mystery person quiz. Listeners/readers quoted: Ivan, Atilio Orellana Rojas, David Novotny, Hans Verner Lollike, Jayanta Chakrabarty, Mary Lou Krenek, Deepa Chakraborty, Charles Konecny.
Ivan from Kansas wrote to us to congratulate us on the occasion.
“Big date in your history. Fireworks? Parties? Parades? Celebrate! We live it up on 4 July here in the USA. Getting rid of those who think they control you is a big deal.”
You may remember that this summer our regular listener Stephen Hrebenach from Ohio wrote to us about an exhibition of Czech puppets at the Columbus Museum of Art. Atilio Orellana Rojas who lives in Japan now sent us a similar e-mail:
“In the last few years I have been living in Japan. Here I help at the New Tourism Association of Higashikagawa (the city where I live). Every year a Dolls Exhibition is held there and this year we had also six dolls from the Czech Republic. I thought this information could be interesting for you, as this is an event related your country.”
Thank you very much, we are always interested in Czech-related stories from your country, so please keep us up-to-date.
And we are also keen to hear your stories related to Radio Prague. David Novotny from the United States sent us a scan of a Radio Prague QSL card from 42 years ago:
“I have been a shortwave radio listener since I was in high school (I am 60 years old now). I still have all of the QSL cards I received over the years and keep them with my collection of QSL cards I have obtained through amateur radio (my call is KC9AMY). The other evening I was looking through some of my old QSL cards and found one I received from Radio Prague in 1971 (when I was 18 years old living in a Chicago suburb). A lot has changed since then. In any event, I thought you might be interested in seeing a copy of the card, which I have attached. I suspect quite a few people working at Radio Prague today were not even born in 1971!”
You’re quite right there and thank you for the pictures! Radio Prague still issues QSL cards and everyone can obtain one if you send us a reception report. The form on our website is easy to fill in. www.radio.cz/en/report
Hans Verner Lollike from Denmark was among the first to send in a correct answer:
“I think the person you are looking for is Kurt Freund (17 January 1914 – 23 October 1996). Kurt Freund was born into a German speaking Jewish family. He studied medicine at Charles University, and majored in sexology. He married a non-Jewish Czech lady whom he divorced under the Nazi occupation to protect her and their newborn daughter. Many members of his family including his parents died in the Holocaust. The couple remarried in 1945 and a boy was born. In 1968 he flew Czechoslovakia following the Prague Spring. He taught and conducted research in Canada. He died in 1996.”
Jayanta Chakrabarty is our long time listener from India:
“Dr Freund was the first scientist to consider men's sexual response as a topic for serious study. His inquiry led to the development of the phallometric test in Czechoslovakia – a first in the world. Thanks to Dr Freund, this device is now frequently being used in sex-crime cases – both as evidence of sexual proclivities as well as in determining the criminal perpetrator's level of sentence or his clinical treatment for rehabilitation.
“While working under the communist government, Dr Freund was given the task of treatment of homosexuals who were considered a taboo in those days. He was one of the first psychiatrists to opine that homosexuality was not a psychological or pathological disorder that required treatment. He thus worked relentlessly for repeal of the anti-homosexual law in Czechoslovakia. Being highly emotional and kind-hearted in nature, he was mindful of child molestation. He studied the psyche of child molesters in order to devise its prevention and also to help molesters away from their tortured lives. This noble Czech soul is remembered not only as one of the world's greatest psychiatrists but as an outstanding humane social reformer.”
Mary Lou Krenek writes from the United States:
“In Czechoslovakia, Freund was commissioned to use his studies to detect recruits attempting to evade military service by claiming to be homosexual. He was involved in conversion therapy. He did extensive research on homosexuals and based on these studies he advocated the decriminalization of homosexuality in Czechoslovakia. When he moved to Toronto, Canada, he was also out of favor with the psychiatric establishment in Toronto where he continued to argue that homosexuals needed understanding and acceptance rather than treatment.
Deepa Chakraborty from India sent us this answer:
“While women and children are being exploited the world over, the name of Kurt Freund, the Czech-Canadian sexologist stands out as a saviour. His pioneering research into human paraphilias is playing a vital role in saving these children from the evil designs of molesters. Moreover, he had also devised a method of rehabilitating these people into the society.”
And Charles Konecny from the United States writes:
“Freund's work took him into the world of sexual practices of individuals who went beyond the sexual norms. He developed the plethysmograph to look into the individual’s deviant ‘sexual mindset’ and to enable a course of treatment. The device was controversial but is still used by researchers today. All-in-all, Freund is considered one of the leading sexologists of his day. If he were still alive I'm sure he would be very busy considering the sexually charged practices of today.”
Thank you very much for your answers and this time our little prize goes to Irina González Urquiza from Cuba. Congratulations! And here’s a new mystery person for the coming weeks.
In November we would like to know the name of the film director born in 1925 in the Moravian village of Kelč. Awarded a Cannes Special Jury Prize in 1963, he worked in a number of European countries before he relocated to the United States in the 1980s to teach film directing classes at Columbia University, The School of Visual Arts and The New York Film Academy.
Please send us your answers to the usual address [email protected] by the end of November. To the same address you can send your questions, comments and reception reports. You can also comment on our stories posted on Radio Prague’s Facebook page or follow our Twitter account. Until next month, happy listening and take care.
