A dramatization of Ferdinand Peroutka's play Šťastlivec Sulla, along with a number of his radio addresses and interviews, is among the more than forty audio recordings in the Peroutka papers digitized by the Hoover Archives. The "father of Czech journalism" in the first Czechoslovak Republic, Peroutka edited the daily newspaper Lidové noviny from 1924 to 1939, spent the war in German concentration camps, and served as chief of the Czechoslovak Desk at Radio Free Europe (RFE) from 1950 to 1964. At RFE he wrote more than a thousand commentaries, called "Sunday Talks," that were broadcast to Czechoslovakia.
In the recorded interviews Peroutka talks about culture, politics, and his personal life. He discusses George Orwell as well as Czech and Russian literature and culture. In the political realm, Peroutka talks about the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Stalin's purges, the death of Jan Masaryk, and the 1948 communist putsch. He also speaks about his early career as a writer and his decision to go into exile in 1948.
Use copies of all sound recordings in the collection, most of which are in Czech and date from the 1950s, are available at the Hoover Archives. To make an appointment to listen to the recordings or to purchase copies, please click on Audiovisual Services.
