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Photo: Robert Janás (MZV)
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Minister Kohout handovered Gratias Agit Award to Ladislav Matějka

 

Deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the Czech republic Jan Kohout handovered Gratias Agit Award 2009 for promoting of the good name of the Czech Republic abroad at the Czernin Palace on 23rd July 2009.

Jan Kohout, Ladislav MatějkaLadislav Matějka was born on 30th May 1919 in Suché Vrbné near České Budějovice. In 1948 he left to exile to Sweden. Since 1954 he lives in the USA.

Professor Matějka cooperated with Radio Free Europe. In 1949–1953 he coedited an independent revue Skutečnost in Paris, Geneve, London and Munich.

He lectured at universities of Harvard, Cambridge and Ann Arbor in Michigan, cooperated with professor Roman Jakobson, contributed to a development of Slavic studies at universities in the USA.

Ladislav Matějka founded Cross Currents, a yearbook of Central European civilization, history, literature, and politics. It had been published in 1982 - 1993 and had been focused on art and culture of the Eastern Europe. The Times Literary Supplement designated Cross Currents as a leading forum for literature and critic of the Eastern Europe in English.

The Gratias Agit Award has been awarded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the promotion of the good name of the Czech Republic abroad ever since 1997 in appreciation of prominent personalities and organizations developing activities in nongovernmental fields.

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