Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:42:47 +0200https://english.radio.cz/joseph-balaz-fleeing-communist-czechoslovakia-a-student-working-global-8135861© 2026 Radio Prague International Joseph Balaz is president of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, which brings together the leading Czech organisations in New York. But Balaz’s main activity is running a successful construction firm that brings him into contact with global celebrities and the cream of Manhattan society. Not bad for a student from Prague’s Žižkov who escaped from communist Czechoslovakia with little more than the clothes on his back. The man born Josef Baláž spoke to me at the splendid Bohemian National Hall, the completion of whose renovation he personally oversaw. encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/balaz_joseph1.jpg?timestamp=1590408961 https://english.radio.cz/joseph-balaz-fleeing-communist-czechoslovakia-a-student-working-global-8135861 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9